Latest news with #SpaFrancorchamps
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
Racing in the rain is a heady spectacle but tragic history at Spa weighs heavy
Having been a mainstay in Formula One since the championship's inaugural world championship year in 1950, no one is taken by surprise by the capricious nature of the weather at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Yet once again this weekend it was the climate that held court at the Belgian Grand Prix, leaving the sport divided over a circuit where the appeal of racing in the rain on a track of such fearsome risk and reward makes for difficult decisions. The race on Sunday, ultimately a somewhat pedestrian affair, was won by McLaren's Oscar Piastri after the start had been delayed for an hour and 20 minutes owing to the rain that swept in across the Ardennes mountains. This was not an unusual occurrence. In 2021 the meeting here ended in farce as all but two laps were completed behind a safety car when an afternoon deluge continued until a 'result' was declared, as unedifying and insulting to the fans as it was. A midsummer day in July guarantees nothing in Spa. Cycling to the track on Sunday morning there were vast stair rods of precipitation yet by the descent into Francorchamps the sun was shining again. The past is a foreign country across 10 minutes in the Ardennes. By the time the race was ready to go the weather was similarly fickle. The downpour that swamped the grid had largely stopped when the formation lap began but the circuit was still wet. The rain was not the real problem however. Spray from these ground-effect cars is huge. The regulations were designed to improve overtaking by channelling the dirty air in their wake upwards. But it also ensures that in the wet the water is similarly channelled and hurled vertically with enormous force. This spectacular plume of liquid then promptly comes down on all the following cars and makes for very low visibility. This was the problem on Sunday, not whether the tyres were able to cope with a wet track. The intermediate rubber was fine with the conditions in Spa, which did not even require the full wet tyres. Indeed of late it is almost always visibility not grip that prevents racing, suggesting full wet tyres are now all but pointless. Were they ever to be used the conditions would be such that racing would surely not commence because of visibility problems. As it was, after the delayed start, it was only seven laps in when Lewis Hamilton decided the track was already dry enough for slick tyres. He was right and the field followed him in. The reaction afterwards ranged from Max Verstappen – whose car was set up for a wet race – arguing that classic wet racing was in danger of disappearing because of the FIA's caution, to George Russell bluntly stating it would have been 'stupidity' to start on time given the conditions when the race was supposed to begin. The majority appeared to concur with Russell given Spa is such a challenging track. Quite apart from its historic legacy in the old configuration that claimed so many drivers' lives, it is still a formidable and unforgiving test. In recent years both Anthoine Hubert, in 2019, and Dilano van 't Hoff, in 2023, were killed here. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion As Charles Leclerc noted: 'On a track like this with what happened historically, I think you cannot forget about it. For that reason, I'd rather be safe than too early.' It was an opinion echoed by Fernando Alonso and Piastri among other drivers. The problem it highlighted for F1 is that many drivers and fans alike want to see racing in the rain. It is a great leveller, where mechanical and aerodynamic advantage are negated and the seat of the pants feel and touch of a driver counts for so much. The call at Spa by the FIA feels like the right one, to err on the side of safety, but as the sport heads into new regulations for 2026 it was a reminder that it might try to find a way to allow the contest everyone wants to see, even when the heavens open.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Lando Norris: You are the biggest loser of the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix
The 2025 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps delivered a thrilling and consequential race, marked by a significant shift in the championship standings and numerous strategic gambles. After an 80-minute rain delay and a rolling start behind the safety car, the action unfolded with impressive overtakes and costly errors. Let's break down who came out on top and who left feeling disappointed. Related: Belgian Grand Prix Biggest Winner: Oscar Piastri | McLaren Oscar Piastri secured a spectacular and dominant victory at the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix, holding the race lead from his brilliant first-lap move to the checkered flag. After qualifying on pole for the sprint race, his strong form in dry sprint qualifying on Friday suggested a win was possible. Despite Lando Norris starting from pole in the main race, Piastri pounced at the start, showing immense pace and being the furthest ahead when conditions were sketchiest. He executed a gutsy move on Norris out of La Source on Lap 1, using the slipstream to slingshot past and take the lead. Piastri then managed his more brittle medium tires perfectly to the finish, never putting a wheel out of place. This victory was his eighth Grand Prix win and doubled his lead over teammate Norris to a whopping 16 points in the drivers' championship as they head to Hungary. Biggest Loser of Belgian Grand Prix: Lando Norris | McLaren Lando Norris had a frustrating day at Spa, converting a convincing pole position into a mere second-place finish. He admitted that Piastri 'did a good job' and deserved the win. Despite Norris's reputation for strong performances in wet conditions, Piastri's excellent run from the start allowed him to seize the lead early on. Norris overcompensated for having to wring lap time out of the slower hard tires, leading to three mistakes totaling over four seconds in the second half of the race. Being second on the road also forced him to do an extra lap before pitting, which cost him over six seconds. Ultimately, finishing second is a loss, and it significantly widened the points gap to his teammate Piastri. Read More: Winner: Charles Leclerc | Ferrari You might think Charles Leclerc's third-place podium finish was down to a good qualifying and setup choice, but that would understate his tenacious drive. Boosted by the track drying quickly and a setup leaning towards dry conditions, Leclerc's biggest challenge was fighting off Max Verstappen in the early wet stages. He managed his Ferrari expertly, even admitting he told his engineer to 'leave me alone' at one point due to the pressure. A clean pit stop, combined with Verstappen losing time, allowed him to manage his cushion to the finish. This marks his fourth podium in six races, and Ferrari's latest upgrades, including rear suspension changes, appear to be working, helping them secure a more stable second place in the constructors' standings. Related: Loser: Max Verstappen | Red Bull Max Verstappen had a disappointing Sunday, powerless to repeat his sprint race heroics. Red Bull had anticipated a full wet race and set up their car with significantly more downforce, which proved costly when the majority of the Grand Prix was held in dry conditions. Verstappen was stuck behind Charles Leclerc's more slippery Ferrari for the entire race, unable to make a pass. He expressed frustration after the race, blaming his peers for urging race control to delay the start due to visibility. This strategic gamble backfired significantly, contributing to his fifth-place finish and allowing Piastri to extend his championship lead. Related: Winner: Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari Despite a 'disastrous' qualifying that saw him start from 18th position and then opt for a pit lane start, Lewis Hamilton delivered a flawless comeback drive at the Belgian Grand Prix. He gained an impressive 11 positions, finishing in seventh place. Hamilton was the only pit lane starter to move up the order significantly. His rush through the field was thanks in no small part to a decisive move to be the first to pit for slicks, and he passed more cars than anyone else on track. Ferrari's updated suspension, which addresses ride height issues, seems to have provided a positive step forward. His performance was a 'brilliant day's work' and a 'glimmer of better things soon to come' in his first year with Ferrari. Read More: Loser: Aston Martin Aston Martin had a dreadful weekend at Spa. The sight of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll battling for second-to-last place in the early stint pointed to their predictable outcome. A lack of qualifying pace was the biggest culprit, setting up an underwhelming race. Similar to Red Bull, Aston Martin's car had been set up for a wet race, but the dry conditions exposed their compromise, leading to them looking about as competitive as they had all weekend. Stroll failed to move up the order significantly, and pitlane starter Alonso never looked like he was making any progress throughout the slog. Their struggle on various circuits, which require both high top speeds and firm medium-to-high-speed cornering grip, was evident.
The Drive
17 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
Does F1 Really Have a Future at Spa?
The latest car news, reviews, and features. When rumors began to circulate around a year ago about the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps leaving the Formula 1 calendar, locals, race organizers, and fans engulfing the grandstands in orange all had something to say about it. For many, the Belgian Grand Prix's 2025 contract expiration meant more than erasing one of the sport's European races from the schedule. To locals, it represents a hit to the small-town economy. Residents rent out their farm fields as parking lots, and the race generates 41.8 million euros ($48.7 million) for the region, making up 10 percent of a neighboring town's annual income. For race organizers, the expiration date looked threatening as races like Miami and Las Vegas popped up with bigger bottom lines and commercial success. 'I guess a lot of things are just about money nowadays, which is the issue. It's a business,' Lando Norris said in 2022 as South African Grand Prix negotiations threatened to axe Spa. For fans, Spa's uncertain future meant one of F1's most historic and iconic tracks could be removed from the calendar. Ultimately, F1 re-signed its contract with the Belgian Grand Prix until 2031 on the condition that it would rotate every other year starting in 2028. NurPhoto via Getty Images Last year, spectators flocked to the circuit anticipating that it could be their last chance to see F1 cars take on Eau Rouge in person. The 2024 race offered an unexpected winner and disqualification drama. But as the sport's 20 drivers faced a slick circuit under a safety car this year, there was much left to be desired. With a nearly hour-and-a-half rain delay to kick off Sunday, the race looked like it could hold seat-gripping promise when Oscar Piastri lunged alongside teammate and championship-title rival Norris to take the lead. However, besides a few wide corner slip-ups and a handful of clean overtakes, the Grand Prix was a dull affair. The finishing order looked a whole lot like the starting grid, just in a slightly different order, as Piastri took home the winner's trophy, followed by Norris and Charles Leclerc. Against expectation and public opinion, Saturday's sprint race held more drama, intrigue, and wheel-to-wheel racing than the main event. While there were opportunities for Sunday's race to keep viewers' attention—like Alex Albon dragging his Williams into sixth place, or Lewis Hamilton's recovery drive from 16th to seventh—F1's broadcast spent more time on the dominant drive in front. The sport's greatest narrative arc in 2025 is its midfield runners, and the story told to spectators on Sunday didn't capitalize on the fact that Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 points-scoring finishers. McLaren's Oscar Piastri, the winner of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, stands at center on the podium beside second-place finisher and teammate Lando Norris at left and third-place Charles Leclerc of Ferrari. Zhao Dingzhe/Xinhua via Getty Images In F1's current entertainment epidemic, Spa remains an enigma. It has all the ingredients for a fan-favorite race: high speeds, blind corners, history, and decently cheap entry and concession costs. But Sunday's race didn't reach that potential. In response to the 44-lap procession, fans on social media began to circulate Max Verstappen's radio message from the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix: 'This is boring, should have brought my pillow.' The sport's 2026 regulations bring the potential for more excitement. Smaller and lighter hybrid cars should increase speeds at one of the fastest tracks on the calendar. But the new regulations also come with unpredictability. The circuit's lack of braking means fewer opportunities for energy regeneration. And less bulky machines paired with lower downforce, higher speeds, and a track that never seems to fully dry mean the potential for danger is high. NurPhoto via Getty Images The 4.3-mile circuit already has a long and tragic history, and its safety faces near-constant skepticism: 'The two questions are, is Spa safe enough?' George Russell said last year. 'And then, it's a question of the conditions.' Over the years, F1 has increasingly prioritized safety in its decision-making at Spa, as it did with the call to delay Sunday's race start. Still, the venue's long list of fatalities and annual uncertainty is another tick working against its long-term future. So, where does Spa go from here? Maybe it is truly something better suited to the history books, or to this on-again, off-again format that leaves space for more modern race host locations. But there are still traditionalists who wax poetic about the Belgian Grand Prix as a timeless tribute to the sport and its heroes: 'It's one of the best tracks in the world,' as Hamilton put it last year. Maybe distance will make the heart grow fonder as the track's rotating format takes effect, and Spa will be more sweet than snooze-inducing next time around. Got a tip? Email tips@
The Guardian
17 hours ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
Racing in the rain is a heady spectacle but tragic history at Spa weighs heavy
Having been a mainstay in Formula One since the championship's inaugural world championship year in 1950, no one is taken by surprise by the capricious nature of the weather at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Yet once again this weekend it was the climate which held court at the Belgian Grand Prix, leaving the sport divided over a circuit where the appeal of racing in the rain on a track of such fearsome risk and reward makes for difficult decisions. The race on Sunday, ultimately a somewhat pedestrian affair, was won by McLaren's Oscar Piastri after the start had been delayed for an hour and 20 minutes owing to the rain which had swept in across the Ardennes mountains. This was not an unusual occurrence. In 2021 the meeting here ended in farce as all but two laps were completed behind a safety car when an afternoon deluge continued until a 'result' was declared, as unedifying and insulting to the fans as it was. A midsummer day in July guarantees nothing in Spa. Cycling to the track on Sunday morning there were vast stair rods of precipitation yet by the descent into Francorchamps the sun was shining again. The past is a foreign country across 10 minutes in the Ardennes. By the time the race was ready to go the weather was similarly fickle. The downpour that swamped the grid had largely stopped when the formation lap began but the circuit was still wet. The rain was not the real problem however. Spray from these ground-effect cars is huge. The regulations were designed to improve overtaking by channelling the dirty air in their wake upwards. But it also ensures that in the wet the water is similarly channelled and hurled vertically with enormous force. This spectacular plume of liquid then promptly comes down on all the following cars and makes for very low visibility. This was the problem on Sunday, not whether the tyres were able to cope with a wet track. The intermediate rubber was fine with the conditions in Spa, which did not even require the full wet tyres. Indeed of late it is almost always visibility not grip that prevents racing, suggesting full wet tyres are now all but pointless. Were they ever to be used the conditions would be such that racing would surely not commence because of visibility problems. As it was, after the delayed start, it was only seven laps in when Lewis Hamilton decided the track was already dry enough for slick tyres. He was right and the field followed him in. The reaction afterwards ranged from Max Verstappen – whose car was set up for a wet race – arguing that classic wet racing was in danger of disappearing because of the FIA's caution, to George Russell bluntly stating it would have been 'stupidity' to start on time given the conditions when the race was supposed to begin. The majority appeared to concur with Russell given Spa is such a challenging track. Quite apart from its historic legacy in the old configuration that claimed so many drivers' lives, it is still a formidable and unforgiving test. In recent years both Anthoine Hubert, in 2019, and Dilano van 't Hoff, in 2023, were killed here. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion As Charles Leclerc noted: 'On a track like this with what happened historically, I think you cannot forget about it. For that reason, I'd rather be safe than too early.' It was an opinion echoed by Fernando Alonso and Piastri among other drivers. The problem it highlighted for F1 is that many drivers and fans alike want to see racing in the rain. It is a great leveller, where mechanical and aerodynamic advantage are negated and the seat of the pants feel and touch of a driver counts for so much. The call at Spa by the FIA feels like the right one, to err on the side of safety, but as the sport heads into new regulations for 2026 it was a reminder that it might try to find a way to allow the contest everyone wants to see, even when the heavens open.
National Post
18 hours ago
- Automotive
- National Post
Three things we learned from Belgian F1 Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium — Drivers and team bosses are divided on the future for wet-weather Formula One racing following an 80-minute rain delay that preceded Oscar Piastri's victory in Belgium on Sunday. Article content While old school racers including multiple champions Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen favoured a prompt start on a tricky circuit, younger drivers and team chiefs preferred to back race director Rui Marques's caution and wait for dry weather. Article content Article content Article content Piastri secured his sixth win of the season, with great aplomb that makes him favourite to beat McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to the drivers' title. Article content The Australian's consistency and mental strength helped him into a 16-point lead after 13 of this year's 24 races, but his drive was overshadowed by post-race arguments about racing in the rain. Article content Ferrari's Hamilton and Red Bull's Verstappen slammed the long delay and choice of rolling start, but others including Mercedes' George Russell and Williams' Carlos Sainz backed the 'safety first' decision at a track with a dark history of fatal accidents. Article content 'We could've gone miles earlier, an hour earlier,' said Verstappen. Article content 'It was a shame. It just ruins a nice classic wet race. Either we push to go for a wet race — or we just stop racing in the wet… and wait for it to be dry. But that's not what you want, right?' Article content Article content Verstappen's car was set up for extreme wet conditions, as forecast, but the decision meant he and others were disadvantaged. He finished fourth. Article content Triumphant McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, celebrating a sixth 1-2 this year, praised the move. Article content 'I think the race was managed in a very wise way by the FIA,' he said. Article content 'We knew there was a lot of rain coming and I think at a circuit like this if you make the calls late, it may be too late — and the outcome could be difficult.' Article content He emphasised the unique risks of the high-speed track through the forested valleys of the Ardennes. Article content 'I understand it would be entertaining, but the average speed is so high at Spa that in wet conditions it's impossible to see.' New Red Bull chief Laurent Mekies, in his first outing after replacing Christian Horner, said: 'I think we were all surprised by how late we started.'
