Five intriguing things to look out for when the F1 season resumes

As F1 prepares to awaken from its mid-season hibernation, there is a sense of antique at what is to come. 

The first-half of the season was bubbling away nicely before everyone headed off on holiday with McLaren having the fastest car, but not being able to quite maximise it, whilst Red Bull appeared all at sea, although continues to hold comfortable leads in both championships.

Then there is Mercedes, who won three of those last four races, including two on merit and appears to finally be on the right course, can it maintain this form? 

But let's get stuck into the topics that you should be keeping an eye on going into the second-half of the year.

Red Bull and McLaren fight

Max Verstappen enjoys a 78-point lead over Lando Norris in the drivers' championship, with Red Bull 42 ahead of McLaren in the constructors'. 

Given the current rate of chipping away at that advantage by McLaren in recent races, it is on course to be almost level heading into the Abu Dhabi finale - fighting with both cars as Red Bull is somewhat hamstrung. 

That is from the drop in form of Sergio Perez, who has been unable to arrest his slump, but has been given another stay of execution, especially with Baku and Singapore coming up - Baku being a track he has traditionally gone well at. 

Of the two titles, it does appear that the constructors' is a more realistic bet for McLaren to snatch away, seeing as Verstappen will be leading the standings no matter what happens until at least Singapore.

The MCL38 is a more rounded, compliant package than the RB20, although perhaps a tad more raw underlying pace if everything is in the sweet spot lies in the Red Bull - and McLaren must make hay whilst the sun shines. 

It cannot afford anymore trackside operation faux pas as happened at the British GP and must be perfect. 

For Red Bull, it must hope that work done over the summer to try and make the RB20 a little more user-friendly has done the trick.

Mercedes to prove Hamilton wrong?

The times, they are a changing. 

Taking the Bob Dylan classic, Lewis Hamilton's move from Mercedes to Ferrari for 2025 appeared genius just seven races ago in Monaco, but Mercedes has now thrown a spanner in the works. 

It finally appears to have figured out how to make a ground effects F1 car go fast, and is reaping the rewards of this with wins in Austria, Britain and Belgium and pole positions in Canada and Britain. 

It is not to say that Mercedes is back, but they finally have an upward curve that appears to be heading where it wants to be after the false dawns of the past. 

Mercedes' 2025 season effectively starts now, with Hamilton set to be eased out of technical meetings over the coming months not to take Mercedes secrets to Maranello. 

As it stands, Ferrari has 345 points in third place, and Mercedes 266 in fourth, a gap of 79 points. 

Overhauling the team to which he has lost his star driver in the standings given the state of them at the start of the year would give Toto Wolff a wry smile.

Alpine's new boss and Sainz's Williams choice

Much has been said about Alpine over the last year or so and the heavy turnover of senior team figures, including the CEO, Team Principal, Sporting Director, Technical Director, Head of Aerodynamics, and the replacement Team Principal all leaving since the start of 2023.

That's not to mention the likes of Alain Prost and Marcin Budkowski leaving Enstone either.

Then there is the fact that Renault is giving serious thought to ending the works engine programme at Viry and reverting back to customer status. 

Oliver Oakes is the man tasked with running Alpine now Bruno Famin has stepped down to focus on Viry, and for whatever has gone on at Alpine, it now has a plan. 

That is not something that has always seemed clear in recent times, so Oakes and his big-new technical figurehead David Sanchez must be given the time to turn things around and implement their way of doing things. That does not happen overnight. 

Elsewhere, Williams must also prove that Carlos Sainz's decision to sign was the right one. 

Williams has underperformed this season, with the team simply in survival mode at the start of the year, with just two chassis - something that bit hard during the Australian GP weekend when James Vowles had to bench Logan Sargeant after Alex Albon crashed his own car. 

When upgrades should have been filtering through, Williams was simply trying to either mend a broken car or get a third chassis into the pool - but those times have now passed and performance can be the focus. 

Some upgrades should be coming between now and the end of the season, with it time for Vowles and Williams to show the world why Sainz was so convinced.