Setting the scene for Valencia
Amid the blistering heat in Spain, all the talk was of Lotus, Romain Grosjean, and the possibility of having Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel in the same team, as Jonathan Noble explains
With the mercury nudging 35C for much of the day in the Valencia paddock, it was hard to imagine anyone other than Mad Dogs and Englishmen being happy wandering around in the midday sun.
But while the blisteringly hot weather made life difficult for everyone going about their business on Thursday afternoon, down at Lotus the predictions of even more sunshine was more than welcome - as it left its men as clear favourites to deliver what could be an eighth different winner this season.
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Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.
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