Belgium Grand Prix Preview

Set in the wooded, hilly countryside of the Ardennes, Spa- Francorchamps is the last vestige of the old, romantic race circuits where fearless drivers performed feats of derring-do, and men and machinery were tested to the limit. It remains almost every F1 driver’s favourite on the calendar.

Swooping down from La Source to the fearsome Eau Rouge, then up to Les Combes and back down through the forests at Rivage, Pouhon and Blanchimont, Spa is a sumptuous reminder of what motor racing used to be. Originally measuring a daunting 14.08km, it was dramatically but not disastrously shortened in 1983 after a 12-year absence from the calendar and took on its current 7.004km layout only in 2007.