Reuters
Formula One F1 – Belgian Grand Prix – Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium – August 27, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during practice REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
Reuters
Formula One F1 – Belgian Grand Prix – Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium – August 27, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during practice REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, or Spa, is one of the oldest and arguably the most dangerous circuit on the Formula 1 racing calendar. The circuit has been under a lot of scrutiny in recent times, thanks to the horrifying crashes that have happened in pretty much all of the motorsport series that take place here.
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Hence, the affirmation of tweaks to the layout of the circuit was always in the offing, and it is now official. Spa Francorchamps recently revealed a statement to the public over the changes that are set to take place over the winter.
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Formula One F1 – Belgian Grand Prix – Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium – August 27, 2021 Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. during practice REUTERS/Johanna Geron
Shockingly, the scary Eau Rouge/Raidillon corner is not on the makeover list. Instead, the owners have chosen to stick with repair works to the infrastructure and the addition of gravel traps and other similar changes.
Spa is working hard to obtain the FIA/FIM approval that will let the circuit host motorcycle endurance which is due mid-next year.
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Changes to F1 circuit Spa Francorchamps
As mentioned earlier, the infrastructure will receive a bit of tweaking due to its age concerns. But, let’s move on to the track changes, and we’re not exaggerating, there are indeed a lot of changes planned.
Bruxelles (turn 8) will have a part of the tarmac run-off area removed to extend the gravel trap. Blanchimont (turn 16 & 17), too, will have the run-off area extended in order to add an extra gravel trap.
The 24hr grandstand will be replaced with a modern grandstand along the main straight. Also, the hairpin turn 1 will now witness a larger run-off area.
Siguen los trabajos en Spa para obtener homologación FIA/FIM. Básicamente en ampliar zonas escape y adición de zonas de grava
Work in progress at Spa to obtain FIA/FIM approval. Essentially, expansion of run-off areas and installation of gravel trapshttps://t.co/r2dyUYoR3D pic.twitter.com/ftSyiTAjCd
— Albert Fabrega (@AlbertFabrega) December 24, 2021
Spa did affirm that these changes are exclusively carried out to evade any serious risk to the drivers. And when one puts it that way, we’d expect the famous roller coaster turn 3 to obtain some changes too. Surprisingly, that isn’t the case.
The owners of Spa don’t seem as interested in laying their hands on the historical Eau Rouge/Raidillon. So, will their adamancy remain the same beyond the 2022 season as well? Are we set to witness more crashes around this deadly corner?
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