Spa-Francorchamps, or simply 'Spa', as it is commonly shortened to, is for many, the highlight of the F1 season. It is one of the ultimate driver's tracks, the kind of track that makes you wonder what other circuit designs are messing about with when you can deliver such a full-on rollercoaster experience. Fast and varied corners require careful throttle application, steering input and daring and knowledgeable braking. If cars have soul, they too love Spa. They are designed to stretch their legs around a lap here, as the layout follows the natural topography of the land, the track seemingly created by the ground itself. The corners feel real and you feel like you're going places here.
Set in the Ardennes forest, the first Belgian Grand Prix here was held in 1925, since which the track has undergone various shortenings, which have not dented the essential character of the original circuit, and the national race has been run on other tracks, particularly Zolder and Nivelles. Neither were a patch on Spa, of course, which retains its mystique for all who take it on.
The original configuration was nine miles long and was in action until 1939. It started after La Source, at which point it went left at Eau Rouge and into a hairpin which returned to Raidillon. After the Kemmel straight, it curved left at Les Combes, eventually going through a long and fast right at Burenville, before the Malmedy chicane preceded the Masta Straight, itself punctuated by the Masta Kink, a super-quick left-right flick sending us to the Holowell Straight. After a right kink at Holowell, Stavelot went left and then 90 degrees right, succeeded by a straight and the rapid left and right at La Carrière. A slight right then led to Blanchimont and we have arrived back on the Spa of today.
Of the 7 cars to start in 1925, the sole finishers were the Alfa-Romeo P2s of race winner Antonio Ascari and runner-up Giuseppe Campari, Ascari completing the 54 laps in 6 hours 42 minutes and 57 seconds, with a fastest lap of 6:51.2 and average speed on that lap of 81.508mph. Returning five years later, with a 40-lap competition, the Belgian Grand Prix was a Bugatti-dominated affair, Louis Chiron leading home a Bugatti 1-2-3 in the T35C. In 1931, William Grover-Williams and Caberto Conelli beat the works Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 of Tazio Nuvolari and Baconin Borzacchini, while at the next race in 1933, Nuvolari, driving for Scuderia Ferrari, who normally ran Alfa Romeos, decided to try out a Maserati 8CM and won with it from the Bugatti T51s of Achille Varzi and René Dreyfus. A year on, it was the Maserati 8CM of Raymond Sommer who was beaten into 3rd place by the winning Bugatti T59 of Dreyfus and 2nd-placed Antonio Brivio, also in a T59.
In 1936, the Daimler Benz team fielded 1st and 2nd-placed finishing Mercedes-Benz W25Bs of Rudolf Caracciola and Manfred von Brauchitsch, with Chiron in 3rd for Ferrari with the Alfa Romeo Tipo B. 1937 was a rather German-dominated affair, with the Auto Union Cs of Rudolf Hasse and Hans Stuck 1st and 2nd and Hermann Lang's Mercedes-Benz W125 in 3rd. Richard Seaman perished after a fire in the next race in 1939, while Lang took the spoils for Daimler-Benz in the W154, with the Auto Union D of Hasse in 2nd and von Brauchitsch's Mercedes-Benz W154 in 3rd.
The Belgian Grand Prix did not resurface until post-war, when a course was laid down for sportscars in the Bois de la Cambre park in Brussels. Eugene Chaboud won in a Delahaye 135S. Spa was back in 1947, forgoing the Malmedy chicane and the Stavelot hairpin, leaving us with a super-fast circuit, La Source being the only slow section.
The 1950s were partly characterised by success for Italian outfits. Juan Manuel Fangio and Giuseppe Farina each won for Alfa Romeo, while Alberto Ascari and Peter Collins triumphed for Ferrari and Fangio also topped the podium for Maserati. One obvious exception was 1956, with Fangio this time taking victory for Mercedes.
In the 1960s, Jim Clark was particularly successful at Spa, taking four victories in a row starting in 1962, including a dominant display in the wet in 1963, winning by close to 5 minutes. Jackie Stewart's huge accident at the Masta Kink, also in rainy conditions, in 1966, was the inspiration for much of his campaigning for greater safety in Grand Prix racing. Eagle took their only F1 win in 1967 with Dan Gurney, while the race did not go ahead in 1969 after many teams pulled out due to a lack of safety improvements. This was the catalyst for changes, as following one more outing in 1970, which included a temporary chicane reintroduced at Malmedy, the Grand Prix left Spa and was run twice at Nivelles and Zolder (ten times) until the new, shortened Spa made a permanent return. Despite two glaring omissions in 2003 and 2006 (tobacco regulation issues and incomplete work at the track the respective reasons), the race has been run each year and for most, Spa is considered an indispensable part of the sport.
Turn 1 of the contemporary track is La Source. A tricky hairpin, it opens quite wide on the exit and allows for plenty of jostling on the opening lap (and DRS Detection Zone 1 on later ones) as the drivers set themselves up for Turns 2 to 4, the Eau-Rouge – Raidillon combination. Eau Rouge is actually the brief left at the bottom of the hill before the slight right, Raidillon, which climbs to the top and goes further than the eye can see from when you are entering the curve. There is a left as the drivers go over the brow and try to tame the car, gently balancing out any danger and keeping forward motion for the Kemmel Straight. These corners are spectacular to watch in person, where the gradient becomes apparent in a way that is not always the case on television.
The Kemmel Straight is the longest one and features DRS Activation Zone 1. It leads drivers to the magnificent right-left-right Les Combes complex (Turns 5 to 7). Whilst Eau Rouge and Raidillon are a pure thrill, it is these corners that begin to remind you that much of the joy of this track is in just how good the more conventional corners are. It’s a right-left chicane followed by ninety-right with a less angled entry and looks superb to drive. This is where the drivers will really be starting to enjoy the flow. Overtaking opportunities also abound into Turn 5.
The drivers plunge downhill into Bruxelles, which is Turn 8. Perhaps because of the relatively short distance between Les Combes and Bruxelles, it somehow invites drivers to dare to brake late, but it’s a risky thing, easy to put a wheel off and in any event, not so easy to gather traction on the exit.
A quick left takes the drivers 90 degrees through Turn 9 before they approach Pouhon (Turns 10 and 11). A relentless left-hander, this is many drivers’ favourite section. Whereas Raidillon is easier to take flat than it once was, Pouhon is more of a case of fine throttle feathering, a lift usually necessary. The track is so fun by this point that it could be difficult for drivers to want to remove any speed, instead seeking to be really fast and ready to barrel through Turn 12 and then slow it down a bit more for 13, Campus.
Turn 14 is Stavelot, a right-hander which sets up the drivers for 15, the Courbe Paul-Frère. It’s crucial to carry as much as speed as possible through here, because they’re now not braking again until the final corners. The left-hand sweeper of Blanchimont (Turn 16) is followed by a slightly tighter one at 17.
Hard braking is called for into the right-left Bus Stop Chicane (Turns 18 and 19), just before which there is the second DRS Detection Zone (activation is on the start-finish straight). It is easy to fumble it through here.
In 1985, when the teams arrived for the event in June, the newly-asphalted circuit broke up in the heat in practice and the race had to be postponed until September. In 1988, the Grand Prix moved to its end-of-summer slot, usually in the final days of August.
Spa was a particular stronghold of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Of all the records that Lewis Hamilton is gradually rewriting, his three wins at the Belgian Grand Prix put him two behind Senna's tally and three off Schumacher's leading number. In fact, he draws with Sebastian Vettel, while Kimi Raikkonen has 4 victories at Spa, from 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009.
Schumacher made his debut in 1991 in a Jordan, sensationally qualifying 7th, but out virtually at the start with a clutch failure, although he took the first of his 91 Grand Prix wins a year later. The 7-time world champion was embroiled in a heated argument with David Coulthard in 1998 after he had driven into the back of the McLaren driver while lapping him in very wet conditions. Coulthard had earlier spun after La Source and set off a huge pile-up which caused a red flag and a big delay. Damon Hill went on to take his final win in Formula 1 and the Jordan team's first.
2008 witnessed a dramatic denouement to the Belgian Grand Prix when Hamilton chased down Raikkonen in the closing stages in the wet and attempted a pass at the Bus Stop chicane, before running wide and cutting the corner. He handed Kimi the place on the start-finish straight before getting him into La Source and went on to the take the chequered flag first, but was later penalised for the way he returned the place and dropped behind Felipe Massa in the results, who claimed the win. Raikkonen, meanwhile, spun off.
Wet weather is potentially never far away at Spa, and its location in the Ardennes hills means the precipitation can seemingly come out of nowhere, while the track length can make it present on one part of the circuit and absent on another.
Normally, the race at Spa marks an eager return of F1 after the long summer break and this time, the thirst for more racing is still unavoidable, despite only a fortnight since the last event in this unusual and intense calendar. For Charles Leclerc, race winner in 2019, last year may seem a long time ago now.
Circuit length: 7.004 km
Number of laps: 44
Race distance: 308.052 km
Race Lap Record: 1:46.286– Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes (2018)
Dry weather tyre compounds: C2, C3 and C4
First Belgian Grand Prix: 1925
First World Championship Grand Prix: 1950
First Grand Prix at this circuit: 1991
First Grand Prix on current layout: 1983
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