The Belgian Grand Prix is one of the oldest events on the calendar and takes place at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes region. Despite several modifications made in the name of safety, to accommodate the performance of modern F1 cars, it is still a fantastic challenge and universally loved by all drivers. It is one of the oldest race tracks in the world, having first hosted a motorcycle grand prix back in 1921. At just over seven kilometres it is the longest track on the calendar and the last real road circuit in the sport. This will be the forty second time that Spa has hosted the Grand Prix, which has also been held at Nivelles and Zolder. Apart from the challenge of the track itself, the main topic of conversation at Spa is always the weather: the locals have a saying that, if you cannot see the trees in the surrounding forest, that means it's raining and if you can see the trees, it means it is about to rain! The combination of the length of the track and the unpredictability of the weather means that drivers often have to face the problem of rain on part of the track while the rest of it remains dry. In the early days, up to 1970, Spa was a massive 14 kilometres in length, but when it returned to the calendar thirteen years later, it was in the shorter format that is still essentially the same today.
Ferrari has an excellent record in Belgium, with a total of 15 victories. In the Sixties, Jim Clark held the driver's record with four consecutive wins in a Lotus and Ayrton Senna repeated this feat in the Eighties with McLaren. However, their efforts were later eclipsed by Michael Schumacher: it was at Spa that the German made his F1 debut in 1991, at the track that is nearest to his home town of Kerpen and he went on to take six wins here, five of them at the wheel of a Prancing Horse car. There were other significant moments in Spa for the Ferrari driver: it was here that he netted his 52nd Grand Prix win in 2001, to beat Alain Prost's record for the most number of wins and in 2004, finishing second was enough to give Michael his seventh Drivers' crown. Kimi is also something of a Spa specialist, with a hat trick of wins from 2004 to 2007 (there was no Belgian GP in 2006.)
Spa boasts some of the most famous corners on the F1 calendar, with Eau Rouge, a daunting roller coaster left-right flat-out flick and the very fast Blanchimont right hander, but in complete contrast, there is also the very slow La Source hairpin, immediately after the up-hill start. It was just after this corner that a huge accident involving 13 cars caused the race to be stopped and restarted in 1998. Until recently, the paddock facilities were somewhat primitive, but a couple of years ago, these were substantially improved, although the F1 personnel still have plenty of walking to do, with the motorhome paddock on a lower level to the pits and garages.
One of the greatest battles in recent years took place in 2000: Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen were fighting for the lead, with the Ferrari man having the upper hand in the wet. However, as the track dried, the Finn closed on the German approaching Les Combes. Schumacher made a forceful move to keep the McLaren behind him. At the same spot, one lap later, the two leaders came up to lap Ricardo Zonta. Schumacher went to the left of the Brazilian, but Hakkinen somehow found room for three cars abreast, going to the right, outbraking the Ferrari into the corner and went on to win the race.
Last year, Felipe was declared the winner, but only some time after the race was over. The Grand Prix became a lottery when rain arrived for the final laps. In the lead, Kimi inevitably had the job of testing the grip level for those behind him. Hamilton cut the final chicane to get ahead of him, but then dropped behind the Ferrari only to retake the lead at the next corner. On the penultimate lap, Kimi crashed at Blanchimont, leaving Felipe to follow Hamilton across the finish line. After the race, the Stewards penalised the Englishman for cutting the chicane, which handed the win to Felipe.
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