David Coulthard's Belgian GP preview

With the summer break out of the way, we've got an exciting end to the Formula 1 season to look forward to. And what better place is there to get back to the serious business than Spa-Francorchamps - a track that's on every driver's list of favourites. A great setting, a fantastic layout - I can't wait.

Red Bull looks fast in sectors one and two, but McLaren and Ferrari are quicker © LAT

The high-speed first and last sectors at Spa should fall into the zone of McLaren and Ferrari, but the aero-dependant middle section should be Red Bull's domain. That should make it very interesting to see just how that trade-off in top speed and downforce will play out, and will also give us a clue for the following grand prix - the quickest of them all - at Monza.

Local weather patterns can always throw a huge spanner into the works at Spa, and also we've seen some teams leap to the front given the low-downforce nature of the circuit. I'd be delighted for Paul di Resta if Force India could repeat its form of a couple of years ago, because he's enjoying a great start to his F1 career.

Vettel the hunted

Even though we've got a lot of points still to play for this year, you've got to presume, all things being equal, that Sebastian Vettel has done enough to defend his title. It's unlikely that he's going to have some sort of meltdown and not finish in the top half dozen in the remaining races.

Being as young and motivated as he is, I expect him to be going for race wins as much as ever, but I think he's going to find it tougher than ever with McLaren and Ferrari right back in the hunt. It's been three races since he stood on the top step of the podium, and the way Red Bull reverted to an older-spec aero package at Hungary goes to show he's not been quite as comfortable as previously. It also demonstrates the vast development race that F1 has become. Things can change very quickly.

Button on a high

Following his pulsating victory in Hungary, Jenson Button will have gone away on his summer holiday on the crest of a wave. It means you can switch off from the pressures knowing you've done a great job, and it should help you switch back into the zone more easily, too. Jenson has that inner peace knowing he's already a world champion as well, but I'm sure he'll have enjoyed his summer break perhaps more than anyone else.

Button is out to make it three wins in a row for McLaren © LAT

After its back-to-back race wins McLaren will also be highly motivated to keep its run going, and I'm a strong believer in its ethos of letting its drivers race each other, because if you don't do that you risk restricting yourself to 50 per cent of your potential to win races.

The war between the big three

There's little doubt that Ferrari has also made huge progress recently, and that's added to what's making this such an exciting season. You've got these top three constructors with such different driver dynamics: you've got the easy-going harmony (Canada aside) of Lewis and Jenson, the less-obvious harmony between Mark Webber and Sebastian, and then you've got the situation of Fernando Alonso's de facto number-one status over Felipe Massa at Ferrari.

Those divergent strategies (in Ferrari's case) and relationships add a whole extra dimension to the traditional warfare of three manufacturers developing their racing cars to be better than the opposition. The three-week break will obviously mean that whatever developments were in the pipeline before everyone 'broke up' will be key for Spa.

In terms of the drivers, it's good to grab a bit of mid-season rest and relaxation, a bit of normality in an otherwise hectic season. That said, I don't have any sympathy for them, because in my day I had in-season testing to contend with as well and we had no break at all!