Jon Noble: Where does Spa sit as a track for modern F1?

Eau Rouge. Pouhon. Blanchimont. They are simple corner names, but they stand for so much more.

They are the embodiment of everything that many love about the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Spectacular, challenging, and super-fast – the epitome of the very place where Formula 1 cars are at their best.

I defy anyone to stand trackside here, witnessing grand prix machines pretty much flat out each time through, and not be left in awe about what a magical place Spa-Francorchamps is.
But it would be fair to say that Spa is not what it used to be as, in some senses, its brilliance has been dimmed by two factors: an ever-growing demand for safety and the rampant march of F1 development.

The safety aspect has meant Eau Rouge, for example, has been steadily reprofiled over the years to make it much less of a challenge – so that now it is easy flat. There was a time when only the bravest of the brave on a qualifying lap could run through there without a lift of the throttle – and we all recall that time when both BARs ended up in heaps of wreckage when Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta bet each other to take it flat their first time through, when it clearly could not be.

Only in the wet is Eau Rouge now a tricky balancing act for drivers, but then it very easily trips over into being potentially a step too much because the consequences of an accident here do not even need thinking about.

As Daniel Ricciardo said: “It's still an exciting track. I think it's one of those ones where we've all driven a lot of times now. So, it's just naturally you're not as excited as the first time you ever drove there and did Eau Rouge.

“In dry conditions, Eau Rouge is pretty easy now. But in Spa, it rains probably 50% of the time. And, in the wet, Eau Rouge is a frickin' scary corner, and it's a real corner.”

Hubert's fatal accident at Spa in F2 in 2019 raised questions about the track's suitability

Photo by: Gareth Harford / Motorsport Images

History shows us that the consequences of an accident here can be grave – and a reminder of that comes the instant you arrive at the circuit gates. As you pass the security barriers and head towards the tunnel that runs under the old start-finish straight, on the right is a painting in memory of Anthoine Hubert, the F2 racer who lost his life in a horrendous crash at the top of Raidillon in 2019.

The blind crest up there, and the funnelling of the track through the barriers as it prepares for the long Kemmel straight, remains a place where, when something goes wrong, it can go wrong in a very bad way.

Questions about Spa’s ongoing suitability for the modern era were further raised after Dilano van ’t Hoff’s crash during a rain-affected Formula Regional European race in 2023.

“Is it still a great circuit? It is. But the challenge was 20 years ago. Maybe there was three or four challenges on the track. Maybe now there's two” Daniel Ricciardo

Motor racing can never be totally safe, and there are philosophical aspects to the debate about whether we want spectacular corners – which by their nature of being challenging have an element of danger – or we want slow turns with acres of run-off that we all bemoan?

Ricciardo is one who thinks that, while some consider the dangers of Eau Rouge not worth it, it does strike the balance right. “Do we want it to be an extremely dangerous corner and every Sunday that there's a race, we feel like something could happen? No,” he said.

“So that's just how the times have gone. Look, the corner is still fun. It's not nothing and, if you are in the race, maybe tucked in someone's slipstream, holding it flat in dirty air with less downforce, it is still kind of scary in a way, in a fun way.

Ricciardo says Eau Rouge remains a challenge in the wet

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“But yeah, trying to push all the barriers away, I think at that sort of corner and with a track that does get mixed conditions, I think it's the right thing.”

While Eau Rouge may not be what it once was (for the right reasons), perhaps the real attraction of Spa now is the other corners out the back – and especially the fast downhill left-hander at Pouhon.

“That one is a real corner,” admitted Ricciardo. “It's seventh [gear], just probably with a little lift in quali. So, is it still a great circuit? It is. But yeah, the challenge was 20 years ago. Maybe there was three or four challenges on the track. Maybe now there's two.”

Spa may not be what it once was, but what it does have that other venues struggle for is personality. Eau Rouge remains a corner that takes your breath away even when there aren’t cars running; there is the blast through the forest sections, the extreme elevation changes, the cambered turns and the kerbs.

For drivers, there is no one magic ingredient that they all concur on as being the key to its enduring appeal. “I think they do the kerbs and everything well there as well,” said Alex Albon. “The undulations, the cambers, it's all much more how we like it: a bit more character to it.”

And, as Oscar Piastri points out, in a world where tracks are built in the middle of deserts or bang at the centre of cities, there will never be a modern-day replacement.

“Let's be honest, there's never really going to be a track like Spa again, through the middle of a forest,” he said. “I think that definitely adds to the atmosphere of it and the undulation and stuff like that. We're not going to have race tracks like that again. So, I think that's why it's so special.”

Piastri is among those believing Spa should be celebrated, especially with its unique forest setting

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images