Following its now traditional three-week summer break, the
Formula 1 World Championship campaign roars back into life with a vengeance in Valencia this weekend – as the all-new Spanish street circuit prepares to host its inaugural race in the top flight, the 2008 European Grand Prix.
The event will mark the first time Spain has welcomed two
F1 races in the same season since
Jerez de la Frontera last featured on the sport's calendar eleven years ago, and it is an outing that is anticipated with a considerable degree of excitement.
With the title battle reaching fever pitch – and as many as six drivers still in contention for the ultimate laurels with seven races left to run – McLaren-Mercedes are expected to hold a slight edge around the harbour-side track, given the Silver Arrows' dominance around the similarly tight and twisty streets of Monaco earlier in the year.
Indeed, between them,
Lewis Hamilton and
Heikki Kovalainen have claimed four of the past six grands prix, and look odds-on to make that five in seven in the Spanish city, with Hamilton in particular keen to stamp his authority on proceedings in 2008, having come so close to glory during his maiden assault on top flight honours last year.
The young Briton and world championship leader is a renowned street circuit specialist – and famously prevailed around the tortuous confines of Monte Carlo just under three months ago – whilst Kovalainen's confidence will have been boosted by his breakthrough F1 triumph last time out in Hungary. Both are more than capable of walking away with the silverware this weekend.
It was not lost on anyone at Woking, however, that
McLaren was unexpectedly outpaced on race day in Budapest by
Ferrari, and even if the
Scuderia seems unable to hold a candle to its rivals in qualifying at present, there is clearly little to choose between the two teams during the races themselves.
