Webber raves about Spa's challenge

With F1's annual trip to the Belgian Grand Prix so typified by the spectacular left-right-left sequence through Eau Rouge and Raidillon, the corner has earned legendary status for generations of drivers and fans.

And although there are some who believe that reprofiling of the track and the barriers has sanitized the challenge, Webber says all of F1's drivers remain in awe of it.

"It is a great thing to take a Formula One car through there, you fly out of the top like a cork," Webber told autosport.com. "It is spectacular.

"The plunge down - unless you have been there for real, people don't realise how steep it is on the way down, with the compression at the bottom and the wall you climb up and come out the top.

"It is impressive - you smell the wood of the plank as you blast out of the top at 200mph."

Webber believes that Eau Rouge remains so well liked because it is such a unique turn, rather than because it is a challenge to drive through as fast as possible.

"The feeling is what it is all about. The challenge is not as it used to be, with the V10s we used to arrive there right on the edge, and in the tyre war days it was quick. But now the cars are a bit more stable through there.

"You certainly want your car to stay together through there, as it will be a massive shunt if you have any mechanical failures at any stage through that section. When you arrive there, you have to respect it for sure. You have to concentrate on your line, get it alright and come out of the top. It is over pretty quick."

And although Webber concedes that Eau Rouge is now far safer than it was in the past, he thinks any complaints it has been made too safe should be ignored.

"It is still a corner that we massively respect. All of us on the grid we like the adrenaline and the danger, which is exactly why we drive these cars. We love it.

"If you want to put a concrete wall at the top that is 90-degrees to the track that is crazy. We should never move barriers back in to make it more dangerous. No one likes to see guys airlifted to hospital and maybe not come out of it.

"They have done a really good compromise on it. You can still go in hard there if you get it wrong, if the tyre pressures are out or the plank touches."

He added: "It is natural that guys will say, back in the day it was more dangerous, but actually what Senna and co drove, they were pussies compared to what Jack Brabham drove. The sport moves on. The real heroes were back in the 1960s and 1970s."