The 12th round of the 2017 Formula 1 season will take place this weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The Belgian Grand Prix will see the return of F1 after the almost month-long summer break. The season resumes with nine races to go at the very traditional Spa circuit amidst the rustic surroundings of the Belgian Ardennes countryside. This historical circuit is one of the most challenging high-speed, technically demanding circuits on the calendar. 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 the 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 and elevation changes around the fast corners. In the 1960s, major crashes causing injuries and fatalities were common. 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, the longest circuit on the current F1 calendar. The circuit conforms to the contemporary safety standards, but still retains most of the iconic corners of the original circuit. Alain Prost won the first race on this newly-configured track for the Renault team. From 1985 onward, the Belgian GP has always been held at Spa (except for 2003 and 2006 when the Belgian GP was not held).
The Teams and Drivers
The Ferrari team has recorded 12 of their 16 Belgian Grand Prix wins at this circuit. They are followed closely by arch-rivals McLaren with 11 of 14 wins in Belgium at the modern Spa circuit. Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Williams (four wins overall) have three wins each at Spa.
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 top the drivers leader board. 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 circuit. Among the current drivers, Kimi Raikkonen has four wins to his credit. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have two wins each. Felipe Massa and Daniel Ricciardo have one win each. Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne of McLaren will race at his first home Grand Prix.
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 second 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 engines and tyres.
Sectors, Corners, and DRS Zones
Sector 1 from Turn 1 to Turn 4 starts with the tight right-hand hairpin at La Source (Turn 1) leading to the steep downhill 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 for this race are the yellow-striped soft tyres, red-striped supersoft tyres and the purple-striped ultrasoft tyres. The drivers have chosen six or more sets of the ultrasoft tyres of the thirteen sets allocated to them. The rough surface of the track and the high speed corners always put a heavy load on the tyres. The faster cars this year with their increased torque and downforce can only cause higher tyre wear. But with rain expected for the race, we could see the full wet tyres in action and very mixed strategies indeed.
Current Form
Mercedes (357 pts) has a 39-point lead over Ferrari (318 pts) now. Ferrari cut the Silver Arrows lead with their impressive 1-2 finish in the last race in Hungary. Red Bull Racing (184 pts) is in third place and will hope the promised Renault engine updates will see them offering a bigger challenge to the top two teams. Force India (101 pts) is in control of fourth place, followed by Williams (41 pts). Sauber bring up the rear of the field with five points.
Mercedes is in the top spot and firmly in control in the constructors’ title race with both drivers delivering points. Ferrari will hope that Raikkonen with a new contract for 2018 will reignite his season at one of his favourite tracks and help the team give Mercedes a real fight in the constructors’ championship.
Sebastian Vettel (202 pts) leads the drivers’ title race and extended his lead to fourteen points after his win in the last race. Lewis Hamilton (188 pts) is in second place and Valtteri Bottas (169 pts) has closed the gap to the leaders. Daniel Ricciardo (117 pts) and Kimi Raikkonen (116 pts) complete the top five in the drivers’ championship.
Hamilton gave up his third place at Hungary to Bottas at the closing stages of the race. The Briton was allowed to pass Bottas in the earlier laps specifically to challenge the two Ferrari drivers in front. When he failed to get past either driver, the Briton gave up his third place and a precious three points in the championship battle. The Finn remains firmly in the drivers’ title race with his consistent performances. The final two European races in Spa and Monza are power circuits which favour the Mercedes team. Hamilton needs to win here to close the gap, if not overtake the consistent Vettel if he hopes to win the title.
This will be Hamilton’s 200th GP and he could tie the great Schumacher for most poles (68) with a pole here. Vettel on the other hand will fight to take a lead into the Asian-leg of the championship which starts at a Ferrari-friendly track in Singapore. An intriguing battle between two drivers of the highest quality with Bottas lurking nearby is set to unfold in the Ardennes mountainside this weekend. With a forecast of rain on race day, it is going to be a cracker of a race.
Main Photo
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