With four wins from six races, six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, is already closing in on a seventh title.
Given the restriction on the number of grand prix to be held this year due to Covid-19, it is possible the championship will consist of only14 races.
That means this weekend's Belgian GP at Spa could be the halfway point in the championship, and with a lead of 37 points over Max Verstappen, Hamilton is sitting pretty.
In a revised calendar, after Spa, F1 heads to Monza for the Italian GP and then moves south a week later to Mugello for the Tuscan GP.
Russia is two weeks later, followed by a race at the Nurburgring in Germany, then the Portiamo Circuit (a new venue) in Portugal and a return to Italy to race at Imola, a circuit last used for F1 in 2006. The only other scheduled race is the season finale in Abu Dhabi in November.
However, it seems certain F1 will return to the Istanbul Park in Turkey, a circuit some of the current drivers last contested at in 2011. The first race was held there in 2005, and the drivers loved it, but unfortunately the fans didn't embrace the event, so it wasn't financially viable. Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 boss at the time, dropped it from the calendar.
Haas driver Romain Grosjean can't wait to return there, while Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon haven't raced on the circuit but know its reputation and are also anticipating the visit.
"It would be mega," Grosjean said. "I think it would be bloody awesome. It's such a cool track. I really enjoy going there and racing. Turn 8 is a good one for the neck, so I think it would be very fast."
"Turkey is a fantastic circuit," Ocon declared, even though he hasn't been there.
"It's an old school circuit, something I was watching on TV when I was younger."
"It looks really cool, I'm excited," said Albon. "Liberty [Media] and Formula 1 are doing an amazing job choosing these kinds of circuits. I don't know if it's coincidence, or if they're just choosing them because they're the ones that are open to races, Mugello, Imola and Turkey."
"We're going to some of the best circuits in the world. It's going to be a proper circuit. I'm all for it."
Albon's comment might not go down so well with the promoters of some of the traditional circuits that will miss out in 2020 due to cancellation through coronavirus. They include Singapore, Mexico, Baku and the Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas. Some of the circuits where races won't be held this year and which might be considered old school, include Suzuka in Japan, Zandvort in the Netherlands and Interlagos in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is difficult to say that any of those circuits, which have held a regular spot on the F1 calendar, are in any way inferior, or for that matter, superior, to the likes of Mugello, Imola or Turkey.
The promoters of the Russian GP to be held in September are hopeful that a crowd of 50 per cent capacity, which would mean 30,000 fans, could be in attendance even though all events held to date have been "closed events".
"It's probably premature to talk about the current number of sold tickets," Alexey Titov, the director of the race, said. "But the picture is more clear about general restrictions due to the coronavirus situation. At the moment, we're discussing the figure of 50 per cent of the total capacity of the Olympic Park - that is our stands and the Olympic Park as a whole."
The promoters may be keen on fans returning, but F1 personnel less so, after the strict conditions they have had to endure to date. And if the Spanish GP is anything to go by, F1 fans are not missing much in terms of a racing spectacle, because Hamilton was able to drive away from the opposition and secure one of the easiest in his total of 88 victories.
Four-time world champion, and now Renault adviser, Alain Prost, has suggested that people don't seem to appreciate what Hamilton is achieving. Prost raced from in F1 from1980 until 1993 when he retired after collecting his fourth title. He won 51 grands prix and could have been be a six-time world champion.
He lost the title to Niki Lauda by half a point in 1994 because he only got half points for winning the shortened Monaco GP. He lost the 1988 drivers' championship to Ayrton Senna, because, somewhat bizarrely, drivers could only count points scored in 11 races back then, even though 16 races were held.
Prost actually scored 105 points compared to Senna's 94 points, but after deducting points in four races, including points for second placings, he finished three behind Senna!
Hard to imagine today's drivers accepting a point system like that, but it confirms the difficulty in comparing different eras, something Prost, nicknamed "The Professor" for his analytical skills during a race, is well qualified to comment on.
Hamilton, in addition to 88 race wins and six championships, has taken a record 92 pole positions and a record 156 podiums. Michael Schumacher had 68 poles and 155 podiums, and Hamilton is rapidly closing in on Schumacher's record of 91 wins and equalling his record of seven championships.
"It is unbelievable what Lewis has done," Prost told PA News.
"But you can only do that if you have a long domination and a long-term commitment with a team. When Michael did it we all thought it would not be possible to beat his records because of how modern Formula One is. But we now have a period of domination with Lewis and Mercedes."
"You can compare the dominance of Ferrari and Michael and Mercedes and Lewis because it is basically the same story. You have a perfect organisation with key people in the team and a number one and a number two driver. Psychologically you have a very stable situation which puts you in a very strong position."
"Sometimes people don't realise what Lewis is doing because he has produced some exceptional laps, but he can only do that because he is comfortable in the team, confident with the team, and that can help you find the last tenths of a second."
While Prost considers Hamilton and Schumacher can be compared, in his view you cannot make the same comparison with the late Ayrton Senna, who was Prost's teammate at McLaren in 1998 and 1999. That was at times a bitter rivalry and commentary on it could fill many pages, and while Prost knew Senna very well, he says with Hamilton there are a few questions you cannot answer.
"Do I know Lewis? I have known Lewis since he was 13 and he signed with Ron Dennis at McLaren, but I don't know him. I don't know if anyone knows him very well," Prost said.
"He is one of the best, and that is obvious, but how can you judge this generation of cars and drivers? It was more than 30 yeas ago."
"I would ask myself if I was in Juan Manuel Fangio's time would I have been able to be a world champion? Was I as good as him? But Fangio is a good example. He first raced in F1 when he was 38. You can have a realistic judgment about Fangio, Ayrton and Lewis, but would we want Lewis to start at 38? No way, so sometimes you have to accept you cannot always compare."
Prost's analysis is the perfect answer to those who want to argue over who is the greatest driver in F1 history. It is virtually impossible to compare drivers from different eras. And there are conundrums such as the late Sir Stirling Moss winning 16 grand prix, yet no world championship, whereas Mike Hawthorn was champion in 1958 with one victory, and three in total in his career, while Phil Hill won in 1978 with two victories and had three career wins. Nobody surely would rate Hill or Hawthorn ahead of Moss.
In Moss' and Hawthorn's era there were only eight grands prix a year, not 21 or 22, which was the scheduled calendar for 2020 until Covid-19 struck.
Spa was first used for grand prix racing in 1925 and has been on the F1 calendar since the inaugural world championship in 1950. It is definitely an "old school" circuit and considered by many F1 commentators to be the best. It is usually at Spa that the "silly season", a reference to driver changes for the following year, kicks off.
It is rumoured that Racing Point will this weekend announce that Sebastian Vettel will replace Sergio Perez in the team next year, when it will race as Aston Martin. But Perez, who brings valuable sponsorship to the team, is confident of retaining the drive despite the rumours. He has a contract through to 2021 and will be a cheaper option than Vettel and the team know him well.
"At the moment everything is looking as if we're going to carry on with the team," Perez said a week go. "So, we'll see. The feedback I've got from the team is we are going to carry on. I believe it's just a matter of time before those rumours can go away."
Hamilton meanwhile is not going to go away. It may be that few really know him, but he will be looking for a fourth victory at Spa. Schumacher won this race a record six times, so that's one Schumacher record beyond Hamilton's reach, for another three years at least!