The traditionalist F1 venue stuck in a philosophical row 

The prospect of the Belgian Grand Prix no longer providing the annual kickstart for the second part of the Formula 1 season is a downer for me. The essence of the current layout appeared on the calendar in 1983 at a time when I was becoming immersed in motorsport and it bowled me over with its speeds, dips, climbs and forested borders. Ten years later, winning a one-make series race there gave me a huge lift.

But not everyone feels the same about Spa. My former co-commentator and five-time GP winner John Watson raced there for McLaren in 1983 when it hosted a grand prix for the first time since 1970. He had high hopes of enjoying a track which had been revamped from the former road course of 8.7 miles created between the wars.

“I had expected because of the nature of the layout of the racetrack that I was going to embrace it and love it but strangely I didn’t,” Watson says. “My reaction may have been based on the disappointment of poor qualifying in the previous race at Monaco and the same fundamental problem which reared its head in Spa; tyres from Michelin which didn’t work for us.

“As a result I didn’t embrace the racetrack, and because I didn’t embrace it I didn’t have this kind of love affair with the place.”

It hasn’t always worked for various drivers. Despite his fantastic statistics, Fernando Alonso has never won a grand prix at Spa, and never started from pole position or even from the front row (although he did win twice for Toyota in the World Endurance Championship). And twice in the last decade he has ended up with a badly damaged car without even getting through the first corner. In 2012 Romain Grosjean made contact with Lewis Hamilton as they accelerated from the line and ended up clattering over the top of Alonso’s Ferrari, denying him the chance to extend his points lead over the Red Bull pairing of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, the latter of whom went on to win the title.

In 2018 Alonso was in the opposite position as his McLaren was launched into the air with a shove from Nico Hulkenberg under braking for La Source, sweeping over the head of Charles Leclerc – who was relieved the halo had been introduced that year.

Alonso is sent over the top of Leclerc's Sauber, with the halo saving the Monegasque from serious injury

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Twelve months later, Spa became a hugely significant venue for Leclerc. On the Saturday, his friend and karting rival Anthoine Hubert was killed in a tragic F2 accident at Raidillon. The following day Leclerc took his maiden F1 win with a composed performance under pressure from Hamilton, and it was a moment of incredibly mixed emotions as he stepped up to the podium.

Mind you, climbing steps is something everyone has to do at Spa. A colleague of mine who has worked for many years assisting the set up of TV production at F1 events mentioned that the Belgian race will be the only one he is avoiding this year.

That’s because of the challenge of shifting equipment from the TV compound, located high on the hill outside the start/finish line to areas in the hospitality paddock which sits inside the straight from La Source to Eau Rouge. It’s a good 20-minute walk and everybody who works or spectates there will have similar stories of laborious perambulations.

"We need a balance of traditional F1 racetracks. But maybe Liberty has looked at it and decided the current audience is not made up of traditionalists" John Watson

Yet the atmosphere of Spa is truly special, as friend and racing fan Chris Ringrose mentioned when visiting as a spectator in the 1980s.

“Part of the charm is that combination of what looks like a rally stage in the woods,” he says. “The gradients, cambers and the historical ribbon of asphalt weaving through. I remember standing on the inside of Eau Rouge for a morning warm-up session, looking back up the old pit straight.

“Elio de Angelis came through with a big lift off the throttle, followed by Lotus team-mate Ayrton Senna who had no intention of lifting... The sparks were incredible and everyone just gasped with the raw speed. He was just so close to us that it really left an impression.”

Senna sends sparks flying as he climbs Eau Rouge in his Lotus

Photo by: Motorsport Images

No doubt Max Verstappen would like to leave a similar impression on his own fans at Spa. Born 50 miles away from the venue – his mother, Sophie Kumpen, is Belgian – he has yet to win a proper ‘race’ (ignoring last year’s debacle) at what is in effect another home circuit, in addition to Zandvoort, since his 2014 hattrick in Formula 3.

Lando Norris, who was in contention to claim pole position last year in the wet before crashing in Q3, is another with Belgian heritage; it would be bitterly disappointing to that side of his family if the event disappears or becomes an irregular fixture. While the McLaren driver's other home event at Silverstone does feel like an ideal place for first-time ticket buyers to soak up many aspects of what has become a festival, the layout of Spa makes creating that same hub a little more challenging. But even Watson would be sad to see it go.

“I would be upset if it gets dropped,” adds Watson. “I think we need a balance of traditional F1 racetracks. But maybe Liberty has looked at it and decided the current audience is not made up of traditionalists. If Formula 1 sees its target audience as the responders to Netflix and TikTok then maybe that’s the direction of travel they want to go down because it will make it more profitable.”

So if the annual trip to Spa-Francorchamps becomes biennial or even less regular, there will be mixed emotions all around. But I for one will definitely shed a tear.

What does the future hold for Spa?

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images