Spa-Francorchamps: wet and wonderful

The Spa-Francorchamps Circuit is set in the Ardennes countryside. This beautiful setting hosts one of the most famous grand Prix circuits of them all. Getting to the circuit was relatively painless, with a train ride to Verviers and a shuttle bus to the circuit. Belgium has, seemingly, got this sorted! Once you depart the bus just outside the racetrack in Francorchamps, walk to the campsite. Not too bad but very wet and set in rural fields, very muddy!

The return journey on the Monday was a disaster with the local bus company, TEC, not providing any shuttle buses on what would be the busiest day of the weekend in terms of people requiring public transport! We arrived at the bus stop at 8.45am. plenty of time to get to our train at 1.30pm. Wrong! We waited for hours and the very intermittent, once an hour or hour and 30 minutes, small regional buses, which were already full, just did not stop. There were hundreds of people in the same boat. Many had plane or train connections which they missed.

Belgium had dropped the ball.

We all felt like we were in a disaster movie – after three buses just went by we all decided we had to walk the 5 km, in the pouring rain with no pavements, to the nearest town on the bus route (Malmedy) to get a bus into Verviers. Eventually we caught the E21 bus. A 25 minute bus ride took over four hours. TEC you need to raise your game.

Back to the positives. Our campsite is fantastic and we are camping with an amazing, solvent, camp team Grand Prix Camping (not to be confused with GP camping – a different outfit) in a big canvas tent in the style of the old “Icelandic” tents of my youth with a central pole and circular setup. The staff and hospitality were fantastic and the facilities were awesome – hot showers, clean toilets and even a hot coffee delivered via backpack in the morning. Nothing was too much trouble for the staff and they even helped us out with an electric cable to give us power! A huge thank you to Rudi and his team. The setup included camping chairs to take to the race and a box of Pitstop shots to keep us warm in the rain! We can go to GA in style and comfort.

The Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium is one of the most beautiful settings for a circuit we have seen. This time we are in General Admission (GA). GA at Spa is awesome with fantastic views around the longest track on the circuit at a little over 7 km and loads of screens to keep you updated (so much better than Hungaroring). However, Hungaroring had better weather. It did not rain in Spa it poured! And when it did not pour it just rained. At one point we seriously thought that the Sprint race might be cancelled such was the downpour, a river ran down the centre of the track (and our backs!)

The scene is set for a great weekend of racing. We have rain, more rain and with F3, F2 and Porsche there was plenty to watch. The crowd was huge but very upbeat and we made new friends (as seems to be the case at every race – F1 fans are really amazing). We also caught up with an old friend too. We met up with James Alridge, who is also going to all the races and it was great to catch up and share notes!

So onto the racing. The F2 and F3 have lots of crashes as the track is slippery. Thankfully no-one was hurt but it was spectacular to watch and lots of it occurred in front of us. It is sprint weekend format and there is only one free practise to be had.

Sprints! Piastri has qualified second to Verstappen in an action packed Sprint qualifier which saw Lance Stroll take a gamble and put on medium tyres because the sun made a brief show, Stroll planted his car into the wall and the red flag prevented Alonso from being able to make a time. This is just the sprint qualies! The sprint race was very exciting with Alonso spinning round and round before going onto the gravel, lots of action in the pit-lane with loads of near misses as the drivers jockeyed for position. The result was that Verstappen had to work for his win, Piastri came second and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly (who are Alpine? They are the French team with lots of job opportunities) made up the top three. Exciting stuff.

Qualifying for the main race sported the new format where the tyre setup is predetermined with hard Q1, medium P2 and soft for P3. I was not sure if this was a good idea but it was really exciting to watch and Ferrari would not have to make a strategic decision. What could go wrong? The sun made a brief appearance and the drivers opted for intermediate tyres as the track was very wet. Verstappen went fastest but has a five place penalty due to a gear-box change. This means Leclerc will take pole position followed by Sergio Perez, Hamilton, Sainz, Piastri then Max.

So the die have been cast : McLaren are hopeful that they can continue their good run, Aston Martin just want to get back up there, Mercedes want to get another podium and Ferrari just want something to hang onto.

The result was a stunning race from Max who got first place and Checo got second. Sainz had an altercation with Piastri which ultimately saw both leave the race. Gutting for Piastri and a real shame as we wanted to see if he could repeat his Sprint race form in the longer race. Leclerc managed to hang onto third place from pole and Hamilton came fourth. Alonso came in 5th which was great to see but all of the teams are far behind Red Bull.

This was an amazing weekend of racing despite the very, very wet conditions. The track is amazing to view and the scenery was fantastic. The Sprint format and new qualifying rules made for a very exciting and action packed weekend. We would love to come back to this one!