Blundell's view: Belgian Grand Prix.

Well first let me say how sorry I was to hear the news about Ken Tyrrell (who passed away over the weekend). I raced for Tyrrell in 1994 and it was a real pleasure to be one of his drivers and race for one of the most famous names in F1 (easily up there with McLaren, Williams, Ferrari and Lotus). His death is a huge loss to motorsport worldwide.

The last F1 race though - the Hungarian Grand Prix - was a bit of a lacklustre affair and it was a shame that such big an achievement by both Ferrari and Michael Schumacher was crowned by such a poor race. Obviously it was on the cards that Ferrari could do it and Michael Schu could take his fourth World Championship but there is always a big difference between what is possible and what actually happens.

It was a huge achievement for Ferrari to clinch both World Championships with four races remaining. In recent year's F1 has been ultra competitive with the battle going down to the wire on more than one occasion. In my mind it really proves how strong they have been. They have been impressive all year - in terms of teamwork, engineering, reliability and of course driving - and it also illustrates the weaknesses of the rest of the field. Ferrari really has overshadowed the rest of the pack this year - McLaren has made too many mistakes and while Williams-BMW has been back on an upward trail, it was to soon for them to challenge the might of Maranello.

This weekend F1 obviously touches down in Belgium and the Spa circuit really is great. It's just one of those tracks - a real drivers circuit, very impressive to drive, very long, allows the driver to build up a real rhythm and very quick. Throw into this the unpredictable weather, the gradient changes and Eau Rouge and you have an absolutely great track. What makes Eau Rouge special? Well it's got a down-hill entry, you bottom out and then it's uphill, turning and all the time trying to do it at 180mph. It's a challenge to get it right and a real test of commitment to go through it flat.

So who is going to win? Well if any team is likely to get it right this weekend it is Ferrari and they are obviously the outfit to beat. All the pressure is off now and perhaps Rubens Barrichello can come good and grab his second win. Williams will be strong too though and so too will McLaren. The Woking based team has always gone well at Spa and with all the championships wrapped up hopefully we will see all the team's hell bent for victory and dare I say it a fun GP with all the driver's taking lots of risks and trying to overtake each other.

Ferrari has only got one goal left now for the rest of the year and that is to help Barrichello secure second in the drivers' championship and make it a perfect 1-2 result. David Coulthard though will be out to make sure that doesn't happen and while no-one really worries about who is second and who is third that is where the fight now is.

DC drove a strong and confident race in Hungary and I'm sure his priority now will be to end the season on the best possible note with the most possible wins. Mika Hakkinen has been a bit up and down this year but as I've said before many things contribute to the drivers' overall performance (and primarily reliability is something he hasn't had this year with the McLaren-Mercedes MP4-16).

As for Williams Spa should suit them as it is a high-speed track and providing the Michelin tyres are right it would take a brave man to bet against them contending for the overall honours. In terms of the last four races it will be interesting to see how they finish the year off. The fight between Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya has been good all year and next season is it likely to be a real talking point.

Sauber scored yet another point in Hungary continuing an incredible run of consistency. They have two very good drivers who have impressed from day one and the Swiss team has kept up the momentum of the first few races, something they traditionally haven't been able to do. Between them - Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld - have done a great job and Raikkonen's inexperience just hasn't been a problem. Heidfeld has also fared well and the German seems to have put his awful first year at Prost well and truly behind him. Overall you can only give both drivers' ten out of ten but the big question is how will they fare in the future?

BAR-Honda's Hungarian Grand Prix was pretty soul destroying - a ninth place and one DNF is not really what they expect. It's been a similar story all year and in that respect the big jump forward just hasn't happened. Furthermore while I'm sure they will get there, with all there resources there is a lot of impatience and at the moment the weight of expectations is weighing them down. What we must remember though is that they are a young team and it's not fair to shoot them down just yet.

As for Jordan they had another terrific qualifying session with Jarno Trulli in Budapest - fifth on the grid really is a good result for them but it's difficult to say how they can translate this into a good race result. For me I think the whole Heinz-Harald Frentzen thing has destabilized them and the reason they just don't seem to be on it in the race is because the EJ11 is very hard on the rear tyres something they just can't seem to fix.

As for Jean Alesi he obviously made his F1 debut with Jordan and all in all I think it is fair to say it was a reasonable Hungarian GP for the Frenchman. Much like Heinz-Harald Frentzen who was making his first appearance for Prost, neither driver set the world alight but then again neither did anything you could condemn them for. The only minor plus you can say about Alesi was his overtaking manoeuvre on Pedro de la Rosa. Frentzen though definitely has the tougher job to do at Prost - mainly because you are only as good as what you are in and the Prost isn't a patch on the EJ11.

As for Jaguar and the recent announcement that they have replaced Bobby Rahal with Niki Lauda what can you say? It was always going to be a tough job for whoever came in and the performance of the team always said that the boss was going to come under considerable pressure. There is no doubt though under Rahal 'The Cat' has made some progress and his move for Adrian Newey showed he was trying to get the right people. As for why they got rid of him it is difficult to say - Was it always on the cards? Was it fair? Who knows? In my opinion there was probably many reasons for his exit and many reasons that he was appointed in the first place. All in all I think he is well out of it. One of the biggest problems they have at Jaguar is that the team is still too top heavy - too many chiefs and not enough Indians! The interesting thing now is how will Niki Lauda fare? I'm sure if anyone can do it he can but we will have to wait and see...

Arrows obviously didn't have a good time in Hungary. 20th and 21st in qualifying must be one of their worst performances of the year and in my opinion I think it is fair to say the team just hasn't improved this year and as a result they have gone backwards. I don't think we will see that change in the remainder of the year and now most of their design focus will shift to 2002 and what they must hope will be a better era with Cosworth power.

As for Benetton things were back to normal for them in Hungary after the high of Hockenheim when they finished a lucky fourth and fifth. Giancarlo Fisichella is obviously Jordan bound now for 2002 and it will be interesting to see how Jarno Trulli's move effects Jenson Button. Trulli is something of a qualifying master and the big question for next year is will he blow the Brit away? If so Button might be on his way out but that's next year and the Englishman still has four races left to redeem himself.

As for Minardi this will be Tarso Marques last race for Paul Stoddarts' outfit before Alex Yoong steps in. The Malaysian though will be in for a tough time when he makes his debut at the Italian GP as he is relatively inexperienced. However his Malaysian bucks will definitely be a help for Minardi and that's presently what they need - Money, Money, Money...

So then Williams-BMW should be strong this weekend providing the Michelin tyres suit the Spa track. McLaren will also be out to prove a point and show they can bounce back from what amounts to a Ferrari thrashing in 2001. A Mika Hakkinen win? That's my gut feeling...

Enjoy the Grand Prix everybody.

MB.