Johnny Herbert: Right from the start, sparks could fly between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Spa

The events of last year in Spa are not forgotten, that iconic moment when the two Mercedes came together and Lewis Hamilton uttered the disbelieving words “Nico hit me”.

That race won’t have a bearing on how Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix will unfold but you can see it still in the uncomfortableness between the pair, the fact they still don’t even want to sit next to each other.

Could it happen again at this year’s race? Of course it could, as neither driver wants to give a single inch and they’ll both have the same mindset of last year, which is “I’m not budging”.

And with the new start rules, whereby the drivers and not their engineers have to be solely responsible for how they get going, things are set up very nicely.

I think that Lewis and Nico Rosberg will be good at it, likewise Fernando Alonso, who has had some blistering starts in the past, and Jenson Button, who has a wonderful feel for a Formula 1 car.

I know the engineers have claimed it’s dangerous and there is a threat of drivers stalling on the grid but I think it’s great, as the power has been given back to the drivers, which is what spectators want to see.

Sure, there will be mistakes and, in the case of Lewis and Nico, who I still expect to be at the front of the grid, that could have a massive bearing at Spa and beyond.

Ferrari turned the screw on Mercedes at the last race in Hungary and it will be interesting to see how the championship leaders react this weekend if that continues.

It puts the pressure on the drivers, as well as Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff at the helm of the team. Have we seen the first early signs of a changing of the guard? No one really knows and only time will tell.

For me, the momentum is still with Lewis and Mercedes. By his own admission, he had a bit of a howler in Budapest but he still came away from that by extending his championship advantage because of Nico’s own problems.

So everything is teed up nicely for the races after the summer break.

If Nico puts in one strong performance and Lewis fails to finish, the championship could flip on its head.