Is Leclerc due a Spa F1 reset?

 Spa-Francorchamps is a rollercoaster, not only in topographic terms. Descending into Eau Rouge and climbing steeply through Raidillon then rolling downhill from Les Combes to the base level out of Pouhon, the sections give drivers a physical sense of the ups and downs of motorsport. But it’s also a track which has seen emotional highs and lows for many drivers; Charles Leclerc is a key example.

Leclerc began his single-seater career in Formula Renault in 2014 and raced at Spa on subsequent weekends in two different championships. The first was a downer: he qualified out of the top 20 for both Eurocup races, with a best finish of 26th. Less than a week later he achieved two podium finishes in the Alps series and finished one of the races just 1.6 seconds behind Nyck de Vries, who would become champion in both categories at the end of the year.

Leclerc’s performance at the Belgian venue was on an upward trajectory and that was confirmed a year later when he won the first of the FIA F3 European Championship races held over another June weekend and scored well in the other two. By the time he was racing GP3 in 2016, the circuit had become a key favourite.

He followed pole position with victory, despite a tricky weekend managing soft Pirelli tyres in high temperatures. That win, plus a sixth-place finish from the partially reversed grid race, helped to extend his title lead over Alex Albon from three points to 36 in his ultimately successful championship bid.

When Spa appeared on his F2 calendar in 2017, Leclerc had a 50-point lead over Oliver Rowland but in practice, the fire extinguisher in his cockpit went off. He lost valuable track time but qualifying turned into a new game as the rain began to fall; Leclerc snatched his seventh pole of the season and, despite a dry track for the race, grabbed the lead before taking a comfortable win. Or so he thought.

That evening everything shifted as scrutineers discovered a worn underfloor and his win was wiped out. Up and down, the cycle was continuing.

Leclerc had victory taken from him after the flag in the 2017 Formula 2 feature for a worn plank

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

The points loss failed to deny Leclerc the F2 title later in the season and he was elevated to F1 in 2018. Signed up by Frederic Vasseur for Sauber, Leclerc scored his first points in Baku but with a hat-trick of zeroes leading up to the summer break, the return to Spa was an opportunity to reset. Practice went well, qualifying less but the race was key. That is until the first corner, when all he could see was the base of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren skating over his head.

It was the first year F1 was obliged to carry halo cockpit protection and the accident initiated by Nico Hulkenberg running into the back of Alonso gave us a clarifying view of the significance of the halo to driver safety. On one hand, it was a blow to witness Leclerc’s short race, on the other it was a huge bonus to see him step away unharmed.

While Leclerc was becoming familiar with the see-saw effects of a track which has hosted grand prix racing since 1925, nobody could have predicted the troughs and peaks of 2019. On Saturday 31 August, talented F2 racing driver Anthoine Hubert died as a result of a crash at Raidillon. He’d grown up in the world of karting with Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Leclerc and he was much liked. It was a devastating moment, occurring while Leclerc was still being interviewed for the pole he had achieved in the Ferrari less than an hour before the crash.

At 21, Leclerc had just emulated racing heroes Michael Schumacher, Jim Clark and Peter Collins by using Spa to earn a first GP victory. Yet the downside of what had happened to his friend made the weekend far more than a rollercoaster

The loss of Hubert made Saturday evening and Sunday morning a sombre spell, but the event continued. Leclerc delivered a strong start while team-mate Sebastian Vettel was battling to hold onto second from Lewis Hamilton.

For once, Ferrari played sensible tactics; an early stop for Vettel ensured he stayed ahead of Hamilton after all three part-time leaders had pitted, and the German’s smart use of the Ferrari’s straightline speed prevented Hamilton from overtaking until the latter stages. Leclerc was now under increasing pressure, but a batch of backmarkers gave him a breather and he held on from Hamilton by less than a second to take his first-ever win in F1.

It was a remarkable moment. At 21, Leclerc had just emulated racing heroes Michael Schumacher, Jim Clark and Peter Collins by using Spa to earn a first GP victory. Yet the downside of what had happened to his friend, and to whom he dedicated the win, made the weekend far more than a rollercoaster.

Since then Leclerc has not had a good result in Belgium. Ferrari was uncompetitive in 2020, and there was the rain-deluged ‘race’ of 2021. Last year he was hit by grid penalties for additional power unit elements, while the frustration of Max Verstappen’s tear-off visor strip invading his brake cooler and leading to a penalty for speeding in the pitlane was typical of the ebb and flow of Spa. The time is right for a boost at such an unpredictable venue.

Will the return to Spa bring Leclerc more positivity than he has enjoyed in recent years?

Photo by: Erik Junius