Spa has always been wildly popular among F1 fans. It’s the site of Eau Rouge, probably the
most thrilling and famous corner in Formula 1. Schumacher took his first of many wins there.
It was a death trap in the 60s. Blanchimont and Pouhon are also world-famous corners
immediately recognizable to the average fan.
Spa’s current layout has been around for over 30 years, and it’s been the site of some of the
most memorable Grands Prix of all time. Let’s go over a few, shall we?
1992 – Schumacher’s first win
One year after making his bittersweet debut at Spa, Schumi and the rest of the F1 brigade
were faced with mixed conditions on the day of the race, which meant that things were going
to be tricky. It wasn’t going to be another stroll to the flag for Mansell in his dominant FW14.
Starting from 3rd, Schumacher would demonstrate his prowess in damp conditions as well
as make a perfectly-timed pit stop in order to lead home Mansell by a ludicrous 36 seconds
after 44 laps. His second win would only come over a year later in Portugal, but once 1994
rolled around, Schumi would get to work on the rest of his eventual 91 wins.
2000 – Hakkinen performs a sublime overtake
If there were any doubts about Hakkinen’s abilities after scooping the 1998 and 1999
championships consecutively, they were obliterated in the 2000 Belgian Grand Prix. The
2000 championship had swung back in Hakkinen’s favour after a string of retirements for his
title rival, Michael Schumacher.
After leading away from Pole position on a (naturally) damp circuit, Mika made a rare
mistake on Lap 13, spinning his McLaren and allowing Schumacher to swipe the lead.
Schumacher would quickly build a lead over his rival, but after everybody had made their
final pit stops, Hakkinen began to catch the German at an alarming rate. After some
questionable defending by Schumacher, Hakkinen made his way past his rival in probably
the most spectacular way possible:
1998 – Chaos rains
There’s no real way to some up the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix other than by using bullet
points:
● A massive crash at the start delayed the race for over an hour.
● There was a second crash when the race restarted, eliminating even more drivers.
● Schumacher was taken out by Coulthard after he attempted to lap the McLaren (the
fastest car that year).
● Conditions were atrociously wet.
● Damon Hill would take his final win in F1 after telling his team that he would not allow
his faster teammate through.
● Jordan would not only take their first win, but their first 1-2.
Seriously, give it a watch. Had Schumacher not made contact with Coulthard, would he have
taken the championship that year?
2008 – Controversy rains
Pardon the pun in the title, but for the most part, the 2008 race was a rather dull affair, with
world champion Kimi Raikkonen dominating at his favourite circuit for almost the entirety of
the race distance.
However, things would quickly change for the King of Spa when the heavens opened with
literally a handful of laps to go, and Hamilton in second was catching up. Fast. Raikkonen
was faced with an agonizing decision: stay out for the last few laps and risk it all for the win,
or pit for intermediate tyres, which would’ve meant almost certainly throwing away a win.
Raikkonen chose the former, which resulted in some of the most nail-bitingly close racing
against his championship rival. Sadly, all would end in tears after binning his Ferrari after
spinning at Blanchimont – right after he had wrestled the lead back from Hamilton, a couple
of laps from the finish.
Hamilton would later be given a penalty that to this day he is still mad about – as he had
made a questionable move on Raikkonen to pass for the lead during their battle, after the
race he was given a 25 second penalty, gifting the win to Massa. (Something he is mad about to this day, almost a decade later!)