Spa: The best by far

Jewel in the crown: Wimbledon
is Tennis' annual time to shine.

There isn't a sport on earth that comes to mind as not having some form of blue ribboned event. The obvious ones come from the perhaps more popular sports, Football for example, enjoys the world best national teams battling it out every four years in the FIFA World Cup. Tennis has its own  'stand out from the crowd' event, in the form of the annual Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. Cricket in this country at least, has the Ashes test series against the Aussies every two years. Even in the lesser forms of sport with maybe not as big a fan base, have their own moment in the sun, with events such as the Tour De France in the Cycling world and the money swinging Grand National in Horse Racing both springing to prominence when it's their turn to grace the sporting calendar.
 The same can be said for Motor Racing to a certain extent, with the majority of petrol heads insisting that the most prestigious event on the racing calendar lies in the Monaco principality that hosts the Monaco Grand Prix, or the Sportscar endurance classic, the Le Mans 24 Hours. However, to anyone other than a crazed fan of the sport (cough *me* cough), these two events have a reputation of being dare I say it: boring. The narrow streets of Monte Carlo really do limit overtaking to an absolute minimum, and the 24 hour race at Le Mans may be considered 'extensive' by just about anyone.
  No, in my mind the most promising, exciting and unpredictable race on this years Motor Sport calendar is this Sunday's Grand Prix event: the Belgium Grand Prix. If you were to ask every driver in the Formula One circus of there the favourite circuit on the calendar, the general consensus wouldn't point to Monaco. It wouldn't even suggest any of the new, glitzy start studded Arab states that have recently  been welcomed onto the calendar courtesy of a healthy pay check. The answer in fact would lie with the Spa-Francorchamps track of Belgium, a nation that upon hearing, many will people will ask " Where? What?". However, besides the uninteresting exterior and sporting credentials that lie absent with the counties reputation, the little nation that neighbours the European powerhouses of France and Germany (west to east) boasts quite frankly the greatest Grand Prix circuit in the world today. Ahead of this weekends event kicked off in Practice session 1 & 2 today, Force India driver Adrian Sutil quite simply claimed that "all the drivers have a big smile on their face when they come back to Spa", and with the the strained personalities and limited expression that Formula One drivers sometimes project, that claim speaks volumes about the Belgium circuit.
 So what makes the track so special? Much like what Monaco so special, some would put it down to the scenery: The track is quite literally draped throughout of the depths of the Ardennes Forest, with the towering Greenery surrounding the entire 4.3 mile circuit. The on-board shots of the cars hitting 200+ mph on the tracks long straights in-between 'the sticks' really do provide a surreal appearance, compared to the more unfortunately favourable inclusion of flat run off area and conventional grandstands, that are all to common around the majority of most race tracks in the modern era. 

Sun cream or running stream?
Spa's unpredictable weather.

    Other fans that have fallen in love the circuit much like myself, will put it down to one factor that features in any race around Spa, and  is the number one thing fans look for in Motorsport as a whole: unpredictability. This is almost always in co ordinance to the spectacular weather conditions that Spa almost always enjoys; whether the weather is clear and sunny at the start of the race or not, it would take a brave man to bet against any precipitation making an anticipated appearance what so ever. So spectacular is the climate, that in various races over the years, team engineers,drivers, and other team personell have been pushed to breaking point with judgement call on tyre choice/pit stop strategy,by the tracks almost unique ability to have to completely different forms of weather at opposites ends of the track. This is caused in part by the mountainous surroundings of the Belgian circuit, but is also down to the shear length of the circuit, which is certainly not anything less than a mountain hike, standing at 4.3 miles. This natural factor has helped throw up some classics: the epic battle in-between Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton for example springs immediately to mind , and the mammoth 1998 pile up for example...

Stunning: The amazing Eau Rouge

Personally, it's the magic of the layout that makes Spa the greatest circuit in the world. The tracks famous third turn, 'Eau Rouge' is nothing short of stunning to watch, never mind to actually attack as an F1 driver at 145 mph. From a personal point of view, which is shared by many others, it's the best corner of any circuit on the calendar. However, the breath taking corners don't just stop at Eau Rouge; the sweeping left hand Pouhon turn in the second sector at Spa is a real tester, in terms of exploiting an F1 car's ultimate grip through a high speed complex, an area in which this years Red Bull has been seemingly invincible. The track also boasts two separate chicanes; after the immensely long Kemmel back-straight, the drivers arrive at the Les Combes chicane, shifting down from sixth gear down to third, prior to attacking the sequence of long, medium speed turns that follow the chicane. Perhaps a more pivotal chicane is the Bus Stop chicane, that on the modern layout, signifies the end of the lap, A perfect entry under braking and an apex-perfection ext can make or break a lap around the Belgian track.  

Unpredictable: Place your bets
 if you dare...

  So with the various culminating factors of the remarkable Spa-Francorchamps all playing host to what is almost always a classic Grand Prix, it seems somewhat hollow that the event is indefinitely overlooked in terms of being 'blue ribboned' by the fancy boats, money laden streets and beautiful girls that play host to the Monaco Grand Prix earlier on in the season. From a sporting point of view, this is tragic; it would appear that the surrounding features that come part and parcel with the Formula One world outweigh the important business being sorted out on the black stuff in excess of 100 mph. Would a football fan trade their season ticket at there beloved Championship/League One club for a match day ticket at Old Trafford? No. Would a tennis fan give up there seat watching an enthralling game at Wimbledon on the fifth court, to go and watch a processional 1st round game on centre court? No. These are prime examples of how sport should be, and are in worrying contrast to that of modern day Formula One. This sport should be respected and enjoyed utmost for the action on four wheels on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; not the off track action on the £1 million pound four courts surrounding the track. With so much intricate detail involved with the sporting side of F1, its a great shame that it is seemingly overlooked.





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