Daniel Ricciardo
"Above all, Spa is a racing circuit - one that really encourages exciting wheel-to-wheel action. That said, F1 has changed over the years, and whereas Eau Rouge and Blanchimont were once the stand out sections, now it’s probably the Pouhon downhill left-hander at Turns 10 and 11. That’s seriously, seriously fast – and probably a good place to watch the race from for anyone prepared for a bit of a hike through the Ardennes. Of course, given the Belgium Grand Prix draws in all the petrolheads, everyone’s perfectly happy to slog through the woods to find the best view. You bump into people who’ve been going to the race for five decades. And if you ever go into a pub or restaurant in one of the villages around the circuit, chances are you’ll see pictures on the wall of great drivers from back in the day, standing where you are and doing what you’re doing. It’s great stuff."
Sebastian Vettel
"The race in Spa started our series of nine victories last year, which I always like to remember. The Belgian circuit offers all possible turns and maneuvers: ultra-fast, medium-speed, heavy braking and fast straights. The height difference is so great that you always have the feeling of riding a roller coaster, especially in Eau Rouge. The weather can also be very unpredictable and a challenge for drivers and teams. It should never be underestimated; within minutes it can change from heavy rain to sunshine. As well as that, the safety car often comes out at Spa. The track is one of my favorites of the year because it feels like it has grown out of the nature that is all around it. It blends with the natural setting perfectly."
Belgian Grand Prix Fan Essentials
The break is over. We’ve waved goodbye to the beach, bid farewell to the drinks with umbrellas in them and blubbed a teary hasta la vista to the sun lounger, and we’re all set to go racing once more. And if there’s one venue guaranteed to entice anyone away from another lazy day by the pool, then it’s this weekend’s race, the Belgian Grand Prix and its circuit, Spa-Francorchamps.
Indeed, we can't think of a better track to kick off the last part of the season. Spa is simply a monumental venue. It's the one place we know of where just walking through the gates beside the teams' car park sets pulses racing. For there, right in front of you, is the wall of asphalt that is the run up from Eau Rouge to Raidillon. You stare up at this mountain of tarmac to where it crests blindly left towards the high-speed Kemmel straight. On your left are vast swatches of Ardennes forest. On your right, across the track, lies the old pit complex. And when the Tannoy crackles into life, it really does feel like you're back in the golden age of grand prix racing when men were men and everybody was just a little bit more glamorous. It's like being on the set of John Frankenheimer's classic movie Grand Prix. Spa is a proper motor racing circuit. It's got hills, long, flat-out straights, balls-to-the-wall corners, intense technical challenges and, when it rains (and it invariably rains) mud, glorious mud.
In terms of getting there, it's easy: drive (at least do so if you live in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, hell even if you're from Denmark). Driving to Spa is quicker and less painful than flying and motoring around the terrific roads Ardennes hills is great fun. If you are flying then Brussels is your obvious port of call. You could also fly to Düsseldorf, Bonn or Cologne – they're all about 1.5 hours drive away from Spa.
Once you're there, you've got a number of choices for accommodation, most of them a drive away from the circuit. Be prepared for that journey to last anything up to 40 minutes as accommodation fills up quickly here. However, if you get in early then look for somewhere in Stavelot, Malmedy or Spa itself. Otherwise, you're looking at travelling from as far away as Liège, Eupen or even Aachen. You could, of course, camp. There are numerous campsites nearby, where the excellent local brews flow freely, the four-to-the-floor dance music is loud and proud, and the mud is as thick as the average junior driver. That's how it should be at Spa. However, it's a race circuit for die hard fans.
Top tip: Bring wet weather gear. The Ardennes has its own odd little microclimate, and there's a hefty chance that it will rain at some point during the weekend. If it happens to be a wet weekend throughout, it will be stinking wet, so bring the appropriate gear.
Top tip #2: walk around. This is one of F1's most incredible circuits and one where, for once, a fancy grandstand seat isn't your best option. Get general admission tickets and wander from spot to spot. You'll see fantastic action everywhere.
The Circuit
What can we say? This is the daddy of them all (which means Suzuka is probably the mother of all circuits). Spa has every kind of challenge. There's heart-stopping Eau Rouge. The flat-out 330km/h blast of the Kemmel straight into the hard-braking overtaking point at Les Combes. That leads to tricky, off-camber Rivage, fast and flowing Pouhon, the awesome full-throttle ride through Blanchimont and then the final squirt through the Bus Stop chicane and across the line before beginning another massive lap with the hairpin at La Source.
Add in the fact that it has big changes in elevation (over 80m in altitude from the exit of La Source to Les Combes) and this is a circuit that provides a huge test of a driver's mental and physical capacity and of a car's capabilities.
Oh, we forgot the weather. With the circuit a smidgen over 7km long it really is possible for it to be sunny and dry at La Source and chucking it down with rain at the Stavelot corner. That makes being on the right tyre at the right time a real head scratcher.
Five Fascinating Spa Facts
1. The Eau Rouge stream, which flows beneath the Eau Rouge chicane, marks an ancient border between nations and empires. At the height of the Roman Empire, it marked the boundary between the provinces of Cologne and Tongeren. It was also the border between the Netherlands and Prussia (1815-1839) and, more recently still, between Belgium and Prussia (1839-1919).
2. The Eau Rouge is a tributary of the a small tributary of Amel in the High Fens, an area that extends in Belgium in the Walloon region (province of Liège) and in Germany, in the Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia).
3. Just down the road from the circuit, in Stavelot, is the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit Museum. First opened in 1984 and located in the Abbey of Stavelot,the museum houses and excellent collection of race cars including a Ford GT40, a Porsche 908, a 917 and a 962, a Lotus 76, a 1981 Fittipaldi F8c, a 2000 vintage Arrows A21 and a Talbot Lago T26C. Well worth a visit.
4. As far as we can tell, the first car race held at the circuit we know as Spa-Francorchamps was the 1922 Grand Prix pour Voitures de Tourisme organized by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium. It was run over 40 laps of a 15km course (race distance 603.2km). The three-liter class was won by Baron Raymond de Tornaco in an Imperia Abadal (a Belgian manufacturer). His race time was six hours, 44 minutes and 38 seconds and his average speed was 88.924km/h.
5. Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot was born in Spa.
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