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It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Thread starter Angel Start date 5 August If you say the word Spa to most women, the vast majority would probably think of a luxury place where they can get a massage, facial, manicure and pedicure or any number of other beauty treatments. Not me though, for me if you say the word Spa my eyes light up and I think of probably the best race track on the current F1 calendar. This is a track where over the years we've had a lot of exciting races full of thrills a spills.
A track which if you ask the drivers to name their favourite circuits, it will most likely be in the top three they come up with. A drivers track, a track with history and a classic that seems to mean more when you finish first. The Bus Stop when you almost used to stop and indicate to turn off onto a small side road before rejoining the track was always something I enjoyed, that is long since gone.
Thankfully Eau Rogue is still something of a challenge but even that is not what it used to be. Yet think back a few years and most people would look at you like you needed your head testing is you even suggested such a thing. In Jacques Villeneuve tried taking Eau Rouge flat and crashed his Williams Mecachrome spectacularly, nothing that remarkable there, a lot of people have done so over the years.
It was a pretty heavy crash but he was quickly out of the car and back to the pits again. Did he learn from it though? Did he hell? As a Jacques Villneueve fan I was on the edge of my seat as he set off, I recalled all too clearly what had happened the year before. Apparently Villeneuve dared Zonta to take Eau Rouge flat. As I say, these days it seems unremarkable, back then it almost seemed like a death wish.
Much as in he tried and failed. His younger and much less experienced team mate then went out. You have to wonder why they tried it in the first place, bravado? That need to be on 'the edge' as Jacques himself used to say? The thrill of pushing man and car to the limit?
It could be any or a combination of all of these things, I just remember it was both exciting and yet horrifying to watch them try it at the time.
By the time you've tiptoed all that way back around to the pits again, it's probably too late to save your race. That is part of the joy and agony of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit and what makes it still one of the races in the season that I, and most likely a lot of you, most look forward to, probably a lot of the drivers do too.
It always offers up the chance of a brilliant race and thankfully it still sometimes produces one too. Last year your pole sitter was Hamilton and the podium was as follows. Who will be there this year? Would anyone bet against a Mercedes winning the race? Earlier in the season I'd have said no, but with Max Verstappen driving his socks off in a resurgent Red Bull, plus hopefully a threat from either of the Ferrari drivers, it's far from a foregone conclusion.
That is just how we like it Edited to add the banner, we used to have a banner at gp. Last edited: 18 August Angel Race Winner Contributor. What a track for Albon to do his first race as a Red Bull driver. Good luck to him. Jimbob Rookie. Angel said:. Norris has always been a bit of a specialist round Spa at junior level so will be worth keeping an eye on.
Spa-Francorchamps, August 31, — Ferrari topped all the sessions in free practice and qualifying to lock out the front row of the grid in Belgium, with Charles Leclerc heading Sebastian Vettel. Lewis Hamilton was third for Mercedes, despite missing FP3 following an accident. The P Zero Red soft tyres were used from start to finish of qualifying, meaning that all the top 10 will start on this compound tomorrow.
The optimal strategy for the lap Belgian Grand Prix is a one-stopper, assuming it remains dry. Ideally, the quickest way is to start on the soft tyre for 18 to 22 laps, then switch to the medium until the end. Very close behind in terms of overall race time is a two-stopper: starting on the soft for 15 laps, switching to the soft again for another lap stint, and then doing the final 14 laps on the medium.
However, all the forecasts suggest that it will instead be cooler than the unusually warm temperatures we had today. It was certainly a dramatic qualifying session with all the stoppages in Q1. Tomorrow will be all about looking after the rear tyres in particular to control the degradation on what is always one of the most abrasive and challenging circuits of the year.
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