When inflexible Spa officials refused to heed a sensible warning

Lando Norris has every reason to curse the precision of lap time recording in F1. You’ll recall that qualifying in Montreal could not have been closer. George Russell and Max Verstappen both got around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 1m12.000s. But Russell claimed pole because he did it first. Norris’s lap of 1m12.021s was within the blink of an eye. Had this been in 1964, Lando would have started from the front row.

Sixty years ago, lap time measurement only went as far as a tenth of a second thanks to the use of hand-held stopwatches. During the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix, three drivers were awarded fastest lap. Jack Brabham (Cooper), Phil Hill (Ferrari) and Innes Ireland (Lotus) covered
the original Spa-Francorchamps in 3m51.9s
but, because he did it first, only Brabham was credited with the new lap record.

Fast-forward to Canada 2024. Rounding down qualifying times, we have three drivers on 1m12.0s. Russell finished his lap at 16:53:17 in the afternoon and Verstappen  at 17:00:25. Norris got the job done at 16:57:23, which would have put him second in the pre-electronic timing lottery. Exactly the same thing would have happened to the McLaren driver at Imola.

With the time of day being the final arbiter in 1960, it did not consider Hill’s Ferrari and Ireland’s Lotus probably being fractionally faster than Brabham’s Cooper due to lighter fuel loads and track evolution. Then again, this was when cars spat out as much oil as they consumed and, if anything, the track would have become more slippery as the race wore on.

Neither was there mention of the timekeeper’s finger flexing being dulled by the effect of a long lunch. Devouring a Sunday roast at Spa was apparently more important than demolishing
the lap record – judging by what happened in 1970 (which we’ll come to in a minute).

Even back then, racing at Spa had become contentious (we’re talking of the original Spa-Francorchamps in all its nine-mile majesty, including the awesome downhill sweep through Burnenville and on to Masta Straight with a
kink marked by stout buildings on either side). During that grand prix in 1960, two drivers had been killed and another two were fortunate to escape with serious injury.

Brabham alone was credited with fastest lap at Spa in 1960, although Hill and Ireland set the same time

Photo by: LAT Photographic

Miraculously, the death toll did not increase six years later when a first-lap downpour on the far side of the circuit caused cars to spin off in all directions. Phil Hill, having retired at the end of 1964, accepted the role of driving a camera car
for the blockbuster movie Grand Prix. The deal was that Hill would start from the back and
follow the field as best he could for one lap.

Phil didn’t expect much at the wheel of a ‘Whoosh-Bonk’ McLaren M3A. Powered by a hefty V8 from Detroit, the M3A had been a cheap and reliable single-seater intended for sprints and hillclimbs.

It was known as the ‘Whoosh-Bonk’ car because Bruce McLaren, when describing how easily the M3A would be adapted from his CanAm car, simply said: “You take the suspension off the sports car – whoosh – knock up a chassis and – bonk – there’s the car.” Hill and the Grand Prix production team were responsible for the M3A making its debut at Spa in 1966.

The 1970 edition would be the last F1 race on the original circuit – and probably not before time

As the drivers ahead either crashed or backed off when confronted by a wall of rain as they reached the Masta Straight, Hill found that the weight of the V8, coupled with what he described as ‘a ton of camera equipment’, provided loads of grip in the unexpectedly treacherous conditions. When he pulled into the pits at the end of the lap, Hill was in fifth place! He was also the centre of attention as anxious crews enquired if the 1961 world champion had any news on the whereabouts of drivers who had gone missing.

One such was Jackie Stewart, soaked in fuel and trapped in the cockpit as his BRM lay in a ditch. This terrifying episode would have an ultimately profound effect on improved safety for drivers. Appalled by the absence of suitably equipped marshals (it took two drivers to stop and come to his aid) and zero medical back up, Stewart was to begin a crusade that seems manifestly obvious now, but was scorned at the time as an emotional over-reaction.

Stewart’s tenacity would move driver protection up the agenda. One suggestion in 1970 was to have the race scheduled for 11.30am, the idea being to move the start time back if rain threatened a repeat of 1966.

According to Ray Hutton, sports editor of Autocar, the Belgian organisers would have none of it. “The officials insisted on sticking to the 3.30pm start rather than upset their lunchtime,” wrote Hutton. They would get their lunch – but no more grands prix.

Several drivers were caught out in the tricky conditions at Spa in 1966, which triggered Stewart's safety crusade

Photo by: LAT Photographic

That would be the last F1 race on the original circuit – and probably not before time. Chris Amon, while chasing the leading BRM V12 of Pedro Rodriguez on the final lap, described taking the Masta Kink without lifting. The gearing graph for the Hewland ’box showed he had been doing 199 mph. In a March 701!

Even the briefest glance at that rudimentary red car today, and a look at the Masta Kink (which remains more or less as it was 54 years ago), will put Amon’s commitment beyond sane comprehension.

Here we are in 2024, with safety at Spa – specifically the flat-out blind brow after Eau Rouge – under discussion for very good reason. Competitiveness has reached such a ferocious peak that one-thousandth of a second no longer provides an adequate performance demarcation. Blame the relentless pursuit of downforce ever since tiny wings appeared on a F1 car for the first time. Ironically, that was at Spa-Francorchamps in 1968. Which is typical of the mixed emotions generated by this stunning race track.

There was no hint of a lift for Amon at the Masta Kink in 1970

Photo by: Motorsport Images