The Belgian Grand Prix brought a return to race action following Formula One's summer break, and a return to winning ways for Lewis Hamilton.
The historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit has unofficial 'classic' status on the Formula One calendar. Beset by funding issues and regional political squabbling, the Belgian Grand Prix normally takes place against a backdrop of uncertainty. Not so in 2015, as a new three-year deal to host the race was put together by the Walloon government and Formula One Management in good time earlier this year. The event will be held at Spa until 2018 at least.
Part of the allure of the venue has come in the circuit's propensity to put on a thrilling race. Again, not so this year, with Hamilton crushing the field to record a comfortable sixth win of the season and his 39th career victory.
Following him home was teammate Nico Rosberg, with a spectacular tyre blowout for Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel handing the third and final podium spot to Lotus and Romain Grosjean.
One man's 'bullshit' is another man's gain
Vettel was less than pleased at the tyre failure that ended his race on the penultimate lap. Ferrari, Vettel and Ferrari's Pirelli engineer had opted to go against the pack with a one-stop strategy. “It's bullshit,” the German raged following his crash, before telling the BBC: “Things like that are not allowed to happen – full stop. If it happens 200 metres earlier I'm not standing here now – I'm with 300 km/h stuck in Eau Rouge, so I don't know what else needs to happen.”
Vettel's loss was Grosjean's gain as the Frenchman accrued valuable points for Lotus and picked up his first podium since 2013 – rendering his appearance on David Guetta's cringeworthy 'Dangerous' video a little less cringeworthy. Grosjean's performance will have come as a relief for his team, who had the bailiffs sniffing around their garages this weekend, an incident thought to be related to Lotus' ongoing legal proceedings with former reserve driver Charles Pic.
Got milk
This year's Tour de France cycling race was interrupted by proetesting European farmers – the sight and sound of honking tractors lined up along miles of the route brought a peculiar atmosphere to the event, and certainly made a point – and a similar scenario was only avoided at this year's Belgian Grand Prix after Formule One Management chief executive Bernie Ecclestone agreed to chug a litre of milk. Dairy farmers in Belgium are under pressure and want higher milk prices after Europe's relaxation of quota systems, a global surplus and falling demand, but they settled for a meeting and 'symbolic gesture' with Ecclestone rather than the road blocks and disruption that had been mooted.
Deals on wheels
A return to the track was preceded by a flurry of deals, as Formula One's commercial bods dragged themselves back from the beaches to the boardrooms. Formula One Management renewed a key free-to-air broadcast deal in Germany with RTL – the two-year term, running until 2017, not entirely a resounding vote of confidence in the arrangement from both sides.
Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, renewed their deal to title sponsor the Singapore Grand Prix for a further two years. Alongside Etihad, which sponsors the Abu Dhabi race, Gulf Air, which sponsors the Bahrain race, Qantas, which seems to have an on-off relationship with the Australian Grand Prix, this is one of the more bamboozling deals in Formula One, given the scope and internationality of the rights in the sport's global airline partner Emirates' pocket.
Another one to chalk down in the bamboozling column is Max Verstappen's deal to endorse Dutch company Exact. The Dutchman shows promise in a car, that much is clear, but as a 17-year-old boy he is unlikely to be much cop as a spokesman for a manufacturer of business software products. Kimi Raikonnen, meanwhile, signed a one-year extension to his contract with Ferrari. The impervious 'Iceman' is one of the sport's enduring stars, and Ferrari's decision to stick with his talents, and his starpower, is to be applauded. But what does it say about the current crop of Formula One drivers that a man whose inscrutability is his defining characteristic can also justifiably be labelled as one of the sport's biggest 'personalities'?