2019 Belgian GP - Spa Francochamps
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This track was first constructed in 1924, then it was shaped in a 14km long triangular format through the Ardennes forest and the neighboring towns of Francochamp, Malmedy and Stavelot. It was mostly used for Motorcycle racing and the SPA 24HRs. The first official F1 race took place here in 1950. The track was redesigned in 1979 when it was halved to 7km and reshaped into the iconic layout that is raced today.
The current track has one long straight and several fast corners with 19 corners in total; 10 left turns and 9 right turns. Spa Francochamps is a true and pure driver's track. It is a rollercoaster of breathtaking undulations of sharp inclines into or out of fast corners and steep decline out of them in very quick successions in a lap. Eau Rouge through Radillon comes to mind. The highest point at Malmedy takes the drivers down the steepest corner in the calendar, downhill to turn 15 at an elevation change of about 102 meters; roughly the height of the Big Ben clock tower of London. This race is 44 laps of one of the longest lap on the calendar, over a race distance of 308 km. The drivers would experience 4.6 G at the highest. It is a track that allows drivers to explore the ragged edges and limits with sometimes very costly consequences.
Spa is also famous for its rains, there was once a period when it rained on race day consecutively over a twenty years stretch. When it is dry, it produces the fastest spectacle to behold.
The five time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio was the first racer to win this race officially. But the seven times world champion Michael Schumacher remains the the most successful driver to race this track with six wins. Senna has won it five times.
On the current grid, Kimi Raikonen is the most successful driver to win this race, with four wins. Hamilton and Vettel are the other drivers on the current grid to have won this race. They have both won it three times each.
Ferrari is the most successful team to race this track with 17 wins, followed by Mclaren with 14 wins.
Valterie Bottas holds the fastest race lap record of 1:46:246 in the Mercedes W09 of 2018. Sebastien Vettel won the last race at this track .
We come into the second half of the 2019 season. All the signs show that Redbull is on the rise. Max Verstapenn has his crosshairs on Bottas for 2nd place and Redbull are close enough to challenge Ferrari for 2nd place on the constructor's table. Hamilton cannot afford any slip ups, if he is to keep his championship lead. Redbull has historically shown their fastest rate of development in the second half of a race season. And the odds are that they may even surprise Mercedes if they are not on their best form through the rest of the season.
Recently, the Ferrari has shown good pace through fast sweeping corners but has suffered at slow corners. Hence, there are chances that the Ferrari may go well on this track. But the characteristics of this track would favour the Mercedes and Redbull better. We may therefore be set for another Hamilton versus Verstapenn showdown this weekend. That said, Bottas would be very keen to get his 2019 season back on track. Hence it may be a tussle between the Mercedes drivers with Verstapenn hovering behind to pick on any weakness from them.
We get to see Albon in the Redull for the first time. And l am curious to see if Ferrari has found something over the holiday.
Now check out this truly fine grid girl to set you up for a great weekend of racing.
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