Spa-Francorchamps is considered one of the most iconic and best tracks on the calendar, beloved by drivers and fans.
However, in recent years there have been increasing worries about its safety, particularly at the famous Eau Rouge/Raidillon corners where they have been two fatal crashes in the past four years.
In 2019, Anthoine Hubert was killed there in a Formula 2 race the day before the F1 grand prix, and on 1st July this year 18-year-old Dilano van ‘t Hoff died after being involved in a multi-car crash while racing in the Formula Regional European Championship.
There have also been other very serious incidents at the steep, fast corner where F1 cars can reach up to 190mph, and with rain forecast for the entire weekend the danger is exemplified.
‘I’m someone that is emotional,’ Pierre Gasly, Alpine driver and a close friend of Hubert, said on Thursday.
‘I think I link places with emotions, and I’ve had the worst emotions of my life here. But at the same time, it’s one of my favourite tracks, so it’s very contradictory.
‘I love this track, and I love racing this track, but at the same time I’ll never forget what I felt going down these stairs [in the paddock] when my parents told me the news.
‘It’s obviously tough, but I accept the sport that we do, and it’s things you have got to live with. It’s also life, as sad as it can be.’
Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have both called for the race to be cancelled should conditions severely affect visibility, with the latter saying: ‘We should be disciplined with safety. It is the No.1 priority. If it’s not safe to run, we must find solutions with a Safety Car.
‘But don’t fall into the pressure of running just to put on a show. If we can’t see, and it’s down to luck if we crash… I’m not a big fan of this. We must take the right decision and the smart decision.’
Leclerc, who won his first race the day after Hubert’s death, added: ‘There are some changes which would make a difference. The walls after the straights, after Eau Rouge, we should have more space. If you lose control you bounce on the walls – this is a change to consider.
‘The two biggest problems? Visibility. It is difficult to put into words what we see. We see nothing, we are not exaggerating, when it is raining. This is a big problem for motorsport in general.
‘Single-seaters have a lot of downforce, there is a lot of spray, and a lot of incidents. It is difficult to find a solution.
‘The last thing is; when is it safe to start a race? This is another topic for the FIA to look at closely. To not feel the pressure of starting a race if we haven’t had any running. Us drivers should not complain if we don’t have any laps if it isn’t safe.’
‘It’s not easy to judge the conditions before sending the cars out,’ Haas’ Kevin Magnussen added.
‘The spray from a Safety Car is not too bad but then you send the Formula 1 cars out and it’s different. The spray has become a lot worse with ground-effect cars, that’s an issue they’ve got to deal with.’
Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo concluded: ‘It’s always pretty bad here. It feels like the spray just stays. It is a safety issue.
‘All the drivers have put this topic on the table and the FIA are working on it with [testing out] wheel covers. But if it’s like this it’s going to be an issue.
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