Nestled in the Ardennes Valley in Belgium, lies a fabled race track, steeped in history and tradition, a favourite of many F1 drivers and fans alike: this is Spa-Francorchamps.
Spa-Francorchamps dates back to 1920, when Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Opheim, designed a race circuit utilising public roads; and joining the villages of Spa, Malmedy and Stavelot. It was first used for F1 in 1925. Since then the circuit has been redesigned many times, the current format has been in use since 2007. One of the challenges facing drivers at Spa is the weather: it can be dry at one point on the track, yet further down the valley it can be raining.
This weekend will also be a very special race for Michael Schumacher. It was 20 years ago (1991) that he made his F1 debut at Spa-Francorchamps, driving a Jordan. Since then, he has gone on to be one of the greatest F1 drivers that the sport has ever seen
(7 times F1 World Champion) – a true racing legend.
Spa-Francorchamps is the 12th race on this year’s F1 calendar. The title sponsor for this race is Shell.
TRACK STATS:
Length: 7.004 km’s
Turns: 20
Race Distance: 308.176 km’s (44 laps)
Current Lap Record: Sebastian Vettel (RBR-Renault) (2009) 1:47:263
2010 Winner: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes)
RACE TIME
Qualifying: 14h00 (SA time – Saturday 27th August 2011)
Race: 14h00 (SA time – Sunday 28th August 2011)
WEATHER:
Saturday: 10/17
Sunday: 11/18 (partly cloudy)
The weather conditions in the first free practice session on Friday were very wet, let’s hope it clears up for Sunday’s race.
TECHNICAL
Spa-Francorchamps is one of the fastest, most challenging circuits on the F1 calendar. This circuit can be brutal on engines, as for many sections of the lap the cars are racing at full throttle. In general reliability has been of a good standard in this year’s F1 Championship – reliability will be fully tested this weekend.
Speeds at this track vary from +-65km/h to +- 330km/h, whilst the “G” forces experienced by the drivers will vary from +-1 “G” to around +-3,8 “G’s”. The cars will be carrying less “wing”, resulting in less down force than normal – to maximise speed on the many fast straights.
Spa-Francorchamps has many legendary corners, such as the “La Source” hairpin (Turn 1 – off the start finish straight – scene of many an accident after the start of the GP), “Eau Rouge” (Turns 2 and 3), “Les Combes” (Turn 5), “Rivage” (Turn 8), “Pouhon” (Turn 10), The Curve Paul Frere (Turn (15), “Blanchimont “(Turn 17) and the Bus Stop Chicane (Turns 18 and 19).
“Eau Rouge” is arguably one of the most famous corners in F1. It is a high-speed left right combination, entered after a long fast downhill straight; it appears to suck you in, before the cars climb up the hill and the drivers are unsighted as to the exit of the corner. When you take into consideration that all of this is done at +-300km/h, then you will appreciate what a difficult yet exhilarating corner this is. It remains a favourite corner of many F1 drivers.
There is only one DRS zone for this race: on the long and fast Kemmel straight, between “Eau Rouge” (Turns 2 and 3) and “Les Combes” (Turn 5). The cars will reach speeds of +-330km/h on the Kemmel straight, before braking hard for the +-140km/h “Les Combe” corner (Turn 5).
2011 – F1 CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVER STANDINGS:
- Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 234
- Mark Webber RBR-Renault 149
- Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 146
- Fernando Alonso Ferrari 145
- Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 134
- Felipe Massa Ferrari 70
- Nico Rosberg Mercedes 48
- Nick Heidfeld Renault 34
- Vitaly Petrov Renault 32
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 32
2011 – F1 CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS:
- RBR-Renault 383
- McLaren-Mercedes 280
- Ferrari 215
- Mercedes 80
- Renault 66
- Sauber-Ferrari 35
- Force India-Mercedes 26
- STR-Ferrari 22
- Williams-Cosworth 4
10. Lotus Renault 0
SUMMARY
The teams will have enjoyed a +- 3 week break, a chance to recharge the batteries and evaluate the season so far. For many ardent F1 fans 3 weeks will have felt like a lifetime. It’s time to get the second half of the season underway! It will be a closely contested second half, with some tight racing at the sharp end of the field, and also in the midfield.
It will be interesting to see what new technical developments to the cars have been made in this weekend’s race. Sebastian Vettel (RBR-Renault) still enjoys a healthy lead at the top of the Driver’s Championship, but Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes are ready to take the fight to RBR-Renault in this second half of the F1 season. The top 3 teams will battle hard for a win here – and if we do have rain during the race – then things could get very interesting indeed. Spa-Francorchamps will be a very exciting race to watch: Formula 1 racing at its best.
All that remains are 5 lights, and when the lights go out…
We are racing in Spa-Francorchamps!
Written by Mark Batchelder, Road and Race’s F1 Connoisseur
