The 13th round of the 2016 Formula 1 season will take place this weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The Belgian Grand Prix kicks off the second-half of the 2016 season. After the summer break, the F1 action resumes at the very traditional Spa circuit amidst the rustic surroundings of the Belgian Ardennes countryside. Modern day drivers enjoy the challenge of this high-speed, technically demanding circuit. The traditional nature of the circuit has made it a popular venue among the F1 fraternity and fans.
Belgian Grand Prix Preview
The History
The original track was built using public roads around the towns of Spa, Malmedy and Stavelot in the 1920s. In 1950, the fifth race of the first Formula 1 World Championship was held at this narrow winding track. The hilly 14-kilometer route was a high-speed track with quick directional changes around the fast corners.
The track that wound through the villages past farm houses, fields and thick forests with major elevation changes was driven at high speeds. This caused a number of serious injuries and deaths, especially in the 1960s. In 1966, Jackie Stewart (racing for the BRM team) suffered a high-speed crash that caused him to start a crusade for better safety at all tracks. The lack of safety at Spa finally led to the boycott of the Belgian GP by the drivers in 1969.
After one final race in 1970 at Spa, the Belgian GP was hosted at the Zolder and Nivelles tracks in Belgium until 1982. In 1983, F1 returned to the modern seven-kilometer long Spa circuit. It conforms to the contemporary safety standards, while still encompassing most of the iconic corners of the original circuit. Alain Prost won the first race on this newly-configured track for the Renault team. After the 1984 race was held at Zolder, from 1985 onward the Belgian GP has always been held at Spa (except for 2003 and 2006 when the Belgian GP was shockingly not part of the F1 calendar).
The Drivers and Teams
The Ferrari team have recorded 12 of their 16 Belgian Grand Prix wins on the Spa circuit. They are followed closely by arch-rivals McLaren: 11 of 14 wins in Belgium at the modern Spa circuit. The inaugural race was won by the great Argentine Juan-Manuel Fangio (driving for Alfa Romeo at that time).
The ‘Regenmeister’ Schumacher has won six times at the Belgian GP, to lead the drivers’ parade. The seven-time world champion launched his career with his first race for the Jordan team at Spa. The German scored his first GP win at this venue in 1992 for Benetton. In 2012, he achieved a final career milestone, when he marked his 300th race at Spa. Many F1 fans will remember the ailing Schumacher’s great drives at Spa with nostalgia.
Ayrton Senna has been the second-most successful driver in Belgium with five wins in the 1980s. Damon Hill with three wins, including the Jordan team’s first race win in a classic race in 1998, shared the spoils with Schumacher during the 1990s. Jim Clark won a total of four times at the old Spa circuit in the 1960s. The first-ever winner of the Belgian GP, Fangio had a total of three wins to his credit at the old Spa circuit. Among the current drivers, Kimi Raikkonen tops the leader board with four wins to his credit. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have two wins each. Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo and Jenson Button have one win each.
The Circuit
The 7.004 km Spa-Francorchamps circuit with 19 corners (medium and high-speed corners) and several long straights is one of the fastest tracks on the F1 calendar with an average speed of 240 km/h. The race is run over only 44 laps on the longest circuit in F1. The first and third sectors require a low downforce setup with the long straights taken flat out, but the twisting middle sector with ten corners requires a higher downforce setup. So a medium downforce setup is a compromise to balance the requirements of the different sectors. The long laps are done at full throttle 70% of the time and the fuel consumption is high. The brake-wear is low, but high loads are placed on the engine and tyres.
Sector 1 from Turn 1 to Turn 4 starts with the tight right-hand hairpin at La Source (Turn 1) leading to the steep uphillhill run to one of the most iconic corners in F1 – Eau Rouge (Turn 3). The track crosses the Eau Rouge stream and the left-right hand combination of corners of Eau Rouge and Raidillon (Turn 4) at the bottom of the hill leads to the uphill Kemmel straight. This fast straight takes the drivers to the crest of the hill and then a blind exit. The drivers can take the entire stretch from La Source to the exit of Kemmel straight at full throttle for over 20 seconds, placing high stresses on the engines at Spa.
Sector 2 from Turn 5 to Turn 14 is the twisty middle sector that requires much higher downforce. Exiting out from the Kemmel straight the drivers brake hard into the right hander at Les Combes (Turn 5). This corner presents one of the best overtaking spots on the track. The downhill run to Rivage (Turn 8) is followed by the left-hand corner at Turn 9 which plummets downhill to the sweeping corner at Pouhon (Turn 10). A set of twisting corners leads to the last corner at Turn 14.
Sector 3 from Turn 15 to Turn 19 starts with the sweeping right-hander at Turn 15 leading to the long back straight that ends with Blanchimont (Turn 17). This high-speed corner leads to the Bus Stop chicane leading to the final start-finish straight.
There are two DRS zones this year at this circuit with many overtaking opportunities. The first DRS detection point will be before Turn 2, with the first DRS activation point after Turn 4. The second DRS detection point will be before Turn 18, with the second DRS activation point after Turn 19.
Tyre Strategies
Pirelli tyre choices are the white-striped mediums, the yellow-striped soft and red-striped supersoft tyres. The supersoft tyres and soft tyres are the tyre of choice with the Ferrari drivers leading the way with 7 sets of supersoft tyres of the allocated 13 sets for each driver. Teams might go in for a three pitstop strategy as the unusually hot conditions this weekend at Spa has seen the supersoft tyres falling apart after one or two laps. The harder compound soft tyres might be the tyre of choice during the race.
Pirelli Tyre Allocation: http://www.fia.com/news/f1-tyre-choices-belgian-grand-prix
Current Form
Lewis Hamilton (217 pts) will start the race at the back of the grid. The reigning world champion was on his fifth Turbo and MGU-H and has taken on many additional parts for his Power unit (PU) for this race. This is the FIA rule for engine penalties:“The penalties imposed for using additional elements work thus: the first time a sixth of any of the elements is used, a ten-place grid penalty will be imposed. A five-place grid penalty will then be imposed the first time a sixth of any of the remaining elements is used.”
The Briton has incurred a 55–place grid penalty, but under the new rules Hamilton will start last on the grid and the rest of the penalty is not carried over. Fernando Alonso with his engine penalties will join Hamilton on the last row of the grid. The defending champion is leading the drivers’ championship by nineteen points. After a decisive change in momentum, Hamilton has won six of the last seven races and leads Nico Rosberg (198 points). Rosberg has won five times this season, but has lost the massive 43-point lead he once held. Max Verstappen is the only other non-Mercedes driver who has won this season. Daniel Ricciardo (133 points) is a distant third in the drivers’ title race. It is a close fight for fourth position, with only seven points separating the drivers from fourth to sixth position.
Mercedes leads the constructors’ championship with a decisive 159 points lead over Red Bull Racing. But the fight for second position between Red Bull Racing and Ferrari is still a close one. It is also a close fight for P4 between Williams and Force India and for P5 between Toro Rosso and McLaren.
The weekend at Spa so far has seen scorching temperatures causing high tyre wear with severe blistering. The rain is never far away at this venue and could make the race more interesting. Nico Rosberg took pole position in the qualification on Saturday. The German only narrowly beat Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen to pole on the supersoft tyres. Lewis Hamilton will be starting at the back of the grid and has to do major damage limitation by slicing through the field and getting as close to Rosberg as possible. If the dry and extremely hot conditions prevail on race day, the chances of having some unexpected results are very high.
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