Spa is a truly great circuit. Climbing and diving over the longest lap currently found in F1, flashing past the forests of the Ardennes beneath a notoriously fickle sky, this is a race track where a Grand Prix car is in its element, and where drivers can unleash all the performance on offer. To be fast here requires a car to be supple enough to deal with the hairpin at La Source and the intricate final chicane, but sufficiently stable to cope with high speed corners such as Pouhon on the downhill middle sector. And while Eau Rouge, the famous roller coaster corner early in the lap, is taken flat out in this current breed of car, it is still an awesome spectacle.
There has been motor racing in this area from before WWII, and many exploits have gone down in history. From the only time an American won a Grand Prix in an American F1 car, thanks to Dan Gurney and the Eagle in 1967, followed by the McLaren team's first win in 1968, fast forwarding to Michael Schumacher's debut here 25 years ago and the Jordan team's first win courtesy of Damon Hill in 1998. More recently, Lewis Hamilton lost the win in 2008 as a result of cutting the last chicane, and in 2014 he failed to finish following an optimistic lunge by team mate Rosberg in the early stages. Last year, he set the record straight with an imperious victory that set him on a path of winning the next four out of five to wrap up the title at the US GP, and you get the sense that once again this event and the next at Monza could define the outcome of the 2016 title race.
Before the summer break, Hamilton took six out of seven wins, his only faux pas coming in Baku where a misjudgement in qualifying put him on the back foot for the race. Earlier in the season Rosberg had enjoyed a run of four straight victories, and he was there to capitalise in Azerbaijan when Hamilton tripped up. The pendulum of momentum has swung in each driver's favour this year, but where will it be as the final intense stage of the season gets underway? We know that Hamilton has grid penalties hanging over him, and that despite his ability to cut through the traffic, things can go wrong as they did in China in April. Factor in the improving Red Bulls, and racing back to second place from a lowly grid position may not be so simple.
Talking of Red Bull, this promises to be a massive event for Max Verstappen. With a Dutch father and a Belgian mother who comes from a veritable racing dynasty, the level of support for the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix should be phenomenal. Last year he pulled off what he considers to be his best overtaking move in F1 so far; around the outside of the flat-out Blanchiment corner and he will be more than a little bit motivated to deliver his very best performance this weekend. Considering Daniel Ricciardo won this race two years ago when the Mercedes boys tripped over each other, the contest within Red Bull should be ferocious. Suitably, we have a comms link to Christian Horner on the pit wall for our Channel 4 coverage this time.
Meanwhile, attention will also be drawn to the other end of the grid, as a Mercedes-backed potential star of the future makes his race debut with a smaller British team. Esteban Ocon is the French teenager who beat Max Verstappen to the Formula 3 title in 2014, and has already driven both the Mercedes F1 car and the Renault this year in testing and practice sessions. The reigning GP3 Champion will join Pascal Wehrlein at Manor, for what promises to be a fascinating opportunity to see how they compare, and nobody will be watching more closely that Toto Wolff as he tries to assess both drivers for the future. Along with Verstappen and Vandoorne, these are the drivers of the next generation, determined to snatch the limelight away from established champions and what better place for Ocon to start his F1 racing career than the magnificent Spa Francorchamps.
There has been motor racing in this area from before WWII, and many exploits have gone down in history. From the only time an American won a Grand Prix in an American F1 car, thanks to Dan Gurney and the Eagle in 1967, followed by the McLaren team's first win in 1968, fast forwarding to Michael Schumacher's debut here 25 years ago and the Jordan team's first win courtesy of Damon Hill in 1998. More recently, Lewis Hamilton lost the win in 2008 as a result of cutting the last chicane, and in 2014 he failed to finish following an optimistic lunge by team mate Rosberg in the early stages. Last year, he set the record straight with an imperious victory that set him on a path of winning the next four out of five to wrap up the title at the US GP, and you get the sense that once again this event and the next at Monza could define the outcome of the 2016 title race.
Before the summer break, Hamilton took six out of seven wins, his only faux pas coming in Baku where a misjudgement in qualifying put him on the back foot for the race. Earlier in the season Rosberg had enjoyed a run of four straight victories, and he was there to capitalise in Azerbaijan when Hamilton tripped up. The pendulum of momentum has swung in each driver's favour this year, but where will it be as the final intense stage of the season gets underway? We know that Hamilton has grid penalties hanging over him, and that despite his ability to cut through the traffic, things can go wrong as they did in China in April. Factor in the improving Red Bulls, and racing back to second place from a lowly grid position may not be so simple.
Talking of Red Bull, this promises to be a massive event for Max Verstappen. With a Dutch father and a Belgian mother who comes from a veritable racing dynasty, the level of support for the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix should be phenomenal. Last year he pulled off what he considers to be his best overtaking move in F1 so far; around the outside of the flat-out Blanchiment corner and he will be more than a little bit motivated to deliver his very best performance this weekend. Considering Daniel Ricciardo won this race two years ago when the Mercedes boys tripped over each other, the contest within Red Bull should be ferocious. Suitably, we have a comms link to Christian Horner on the pit wall for our Channel 4 coverage this time.
Meanwhile, attention will also be drawn to the other end of the grid, as a Mercedes-backed potential star of the future makes his race debut with a smaller British team. Esteban Ocon is the French teenager who beat Max Verstappen to the Formula 3 title in 2014, and has already driven both the Mercedes F1 car and the Renault this year in testing and practice sessions. The reigning GP3 Champion will join Pascal Wehrlein at Manor, for what promises to be a fascinating opportunity to see how they compare, and nobody will be watching more closely that Toto Wolff as he tries to assess both drivers for the future. Along with Verstappen and Vandoorne, these are the drivers of the next generation, determined to snatch the limelight away from established champions and what better place for Ocon to start his F1 racing career than the magnificent Spa Francorchamps.