Spa-Francochamps Circuit

Track configurations

Original layout

In 1918, German headquarters were in Spa, and in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles separated the Eupen-Malmedy region from Prussia and the German Empire. Between January and June 1920, a plebiscite was held, without a secret ballot and under other questionable circumstances. As a result, the Transitional Government prepared for the unification of Eupen-Malmedy with Belgium in June 1925.

Jules de Thier, owner of the Liège newspaper La Meuse, was looking for a site to host a race, and following a meeting at the Hotel des Bruyères in Francorchamps, with burgomaster Joseph de Crawhez and racing-car driver Henri Langlois van Ophem, it was decided that the roads from Spa-Francorchamps to the former German Malmedy, to Stavelot, and back towards Francorchamps constituted an ideal triangle-shaped circuit with few tight corners and long fast sections. Eau Rouge creek was the Belgian-German Empire border until 1920, after which date the border post became known as the Ancienne Douane, 'former customs office'. After passing through former German Bürnenville, the track crossed the former border again halfway on the road between Malmedy and Stavelot, at the junction of the Meiz road. In Stavelot, there was a sharp right-hander, later replaced with a sweeping bypass.

The track's inaugural race was planned for August 1921, but was cancelled when only one driver entered. The first car race was held at the circuit in 1922, and 1924 saw the first running of the now famous 24 Hours of Francorchamps race. The circuit was first used for Grand Prix racing in 1925.

The original Spa-Francorchamps circuit was essentially a speed course, with drivers managing higher average speeds than on other road race tracks. At the time, the Belgians took pride in having a very fast circuit, and to improve average speeds, in 1939 the former Ancienne Douane slow uphill U-turn after the bottom of the Eau Rouge creek valley was cut short with a faster sweep straight up the hill, called the Raidillon. In public traffic until 2000, at Eau Rouge, southbound traffic was allowed to use the famous uphill corner, while the opposite downhill traffic had to use the old road and U-turn behind the grandstands, rejoining the race track at the bottom of Eau Rouge. Around 2001, a new bypass road N62c was built to the East, and the track was closed to the public as the road from Stavelot to Blanchimont became a cul-de-sac.

The old race track continued through the Kemmel curves (straightened in 1979) to the highest part of the track (102.2 m (335 ft) above the lowest part), then went downhill into Les Combes, a fast, slightly banked downhill left-hand corner towards Burnenville, passing this village in a fast right hand sweep. Near Malmedy, the Masta straight began, which was only interrupted by the Masta Kink between farm houses before arriving at the town of Stavelot. Then, the track progressed through an uphill straight section with a few bends called La Carriere, going through two high-speed turns (the former being an unnamed right-hand turn, and the latter named Blanchimont) before braking very hard for La Source hairpin, that rejoined the downhill start finish section (as opposed to today where the start–finish section is before La Source).

New layout

Over the years, the Spa course has been modified several times. The track was originally 14.982 km (9.309 mi) long, but after World War II, the track underwent some changes. In 1930, the chicane at Malmedy was eliminated and bypassed, making the course even faster, but the chicane was re-installed in 1935, albeit slightly different. In 1939, "Virage de l'Ancienne Douane" was eliminated and cut short, thus creating the uphill Raidillon de l’Eau Rouge sweeping corner. In 1947, the chicane at Malmedy was again eliminated and bypassed, and was made part of the Masta Straight. The slight right-hander that was originally Hollowell (the corner before Stavelot after the second Masta Straight) was eliminated. Instead of going through a slight left-hander that went into the town of Stavelot and a sharp right-hander at a road junction in Stavelot, a shortcut was built that became a very fast, very wide right-handed turn that bypassed Stavelot. All these changes made the final configuration of the old Spa circuit 14.100 km (8.761 mi) long, and also made Spa the fastest open road circuit in the world. In the final years of the old circuit, drivers could average 240 km/h (150 mph). The biggest change, however, saw the circuit being shortened from 14.100 to 6.947 km (8.761 to 4.317 mi) in 1979. The start/finish line, which was originally on the downhill straight before Eau Rouge, was moved to the straight before the La Source hairpin in 1981. Like its predecessor, the new layout is still a fast and hilly route through the Ardennes where speeds in excess of 330 km/h (210 mph) can be reached. Since its inception, the place has been famous for its unpredictable weather, where drivers are confronted with one part of the course being clear and bright while another stretch is rainy and slippery.

The most famous part of the circuit is the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge combination. Having negotiated the La Source hairpin, drivers race down a straight to the point where the track crosses the Eau Rouge stream for the first time, before being launched steeply uphill into a sweeping left-right-left series of corners with a blind summit. The Eau Rouge corner was only the left-hander at the bottom which led to the Ancienne Douane hairpin. The combination requires an amount of skill from the driver to negotiate it well and the long Kemmel straight ahead produces overtaking opportunities for drivers at the following "Les Combes" corner. The corner was tighter and narrower before 1970, allowing drivers to take the corner faster.

Two-time F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso explained:...You come into the corner downhill, have a sudden change [of direction] at the bottom and then go very steep uphill. From the cockpit, you cannot see the exit and as you come over the crest, you don't know where you will land. It is a crucial corner for the timed lap, and also in the race, because you have a long uphill straight afterwards where you can lose a lot of time if you make a mistake. But it is also an important corner for the driver's feeling. It makes a special impression every lap, because you also have a compression in your body as you go through the bottom of the corner. It is very strange – but good fun as well.

Problems and renovations

Due to the introduction of the Television Without Frontiers Directive (1989), tobacco advertising and sponsorship on television were banned within the European Union from 1991, causing Formula One to face a major threat regarding races in Europe. Due to these political and legislative circumstances, the Grand Prix at Spa was left out of the 2003 calendar as a response to the internal tobacco legislation in Belgium. The event was tagged as a world class event within the national senate, and thus it was saved for the 2004 Formula One season. The final Bus Stop chicane was reprofiled for 2004 with an additional sweep to the right.

Spa was dropped from the Formula One calendar in 2006. The organiser of the event went bankrupt in late 2005, and therefore the planned improvements to the race track and paddock had not yet been made. The Wallonia government stepped in and provided the necessary funds, but too late for the 2006 race to take place.

Redevelopment for the 2007 season

With a new financial backer, the renovation started on 6 November 2006 and finished in May 2007, costing around €19 million. Formula 1 returned to Spa for 2007, with a modified track layout. The Bus Stop chicane was moved back towards Blanchimont and the La Source hairpin moved forward. This allowed more space for the new pit lane, and gave a longer start/finish straight.

Modifications

New asphalt runoff was added to the inside and outside of Les Combes for the 2010 race, in line with the prevailing trends at other Formula One circuits. Prior to the 2013 race, drainage grooves were cut into the asphalt on the start–finish straight, underneath the first 11 grid slots. Drivers were initially concerned that this would affect grip at the start.

Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge safety concerns

In Spa Francorchamps' tenure as a permanent racing facility, after it was removed from the public road network in 2000, there have been multiple accidents in the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge combination. Due to driver safety being paramount to racing organizations and governing bodies like the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, these crashes opened up public debate on whether the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge combination was deemed unsafe. Criticism centred around the nature of the tyre barrier and run-off area of Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge, which tended to bounce out-of-control cars back onto the track rather than collect them.

In October 2020 the circuit announced that gravel traps would be placed at La Source, Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge, Blanchimont, Les Combes and Stavelot. The runoff areas of some corners including Raidillon would be expanded. It was part of an €80 million upgrade to the circuit that would make it able to hold motorcycle races. The upgrade will also include a grandstand at the top of the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge hill. The upgrades were completed in March 2022, ready for the FIM Endurance World Championship race held in June. The circuit was also shortened to 6.985 km (4.340 mi), as the Jacky Ickx corner is bypassed in favour of a shorter section with more runoff for motorcycles.

During the Formula 2 feature race in late August, a serious incident between Anthoine Hubert and Juan Manuel Correa occurred shortly after Raidillon on the Kemmel Straight. As the second lap began, Trident driver Giuliano Alesi lost control of his car as he climbed the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge curves due to a puncture he had received earlier, causing his car to spin and hit the left wall of the circuit, tearing off his rear wing and spreading debris onto the track. As another Trident driver, Ralph Boschung reached the crest of Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge, he slowed down and moved towards the run-off area to avoid Alesi's damaged car and the field of debris. Hubert, who was following Boschung closely and had no view of what had happened to Alesi, moved right to avoid Boschung's slowing car, clipping Boschung's right rear wheel with his front wing. Hubert's car crashed into the tyre barrier on the right side of the track along the Kemmel straight at an acute angle and was deflected sideways into the path of Charouz driver Juan Manuel Correa, who struck it on the left side in the driver seat area.

The incident resulted in the death of Hubert and serious injury to Correa, with the feature race being abandoned and the scheduled sprint race a day later being cancelled too, whilst the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix went ahead.

Redevelopment for the 2022 season

Ahead of the 2022 FIM EWC 24H Spa EWC Motos race and 2022 F1 Grand Prix, the circuit underwent a major facility and safety facility redevelopment which had been planned since 2020. Extra run-off was added to the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge part of the course – changes made in response to several big accidents in recent years at that section of the track, including the fatal accident of Anthoine Hubert during the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 round. In addition, gravel traps were added to and modified at various corners around the circuit including: La Source, Les Combes, Speaker's Corner, Pouhon (or double gauche), Stavelot, and Blanchimont. The track has also been resurfaced for this year's event altering track grip levels, with Max Verstappen being the first driver to run a Formula One car around the renovated circuit in a Red Bull RB7. Jarno Zaffelli, head of Dromo Circuit Design, the company who carried out the renovations, revealed that twenty possible different iterations of Eau Rouge were evaluated, with the selected iteration chosen with the help of form of ex-Formula One drivers Thierry Boutsen and Emanuele Pirro and fine tuned with simulations for Formula One and GT cars.

Spa-Francorchamps is part of the 2023 Formula 1 calendar, and its contract was extended to 2025 in October 2023.

Other racing series

Besides Formula 1 other races in different motorsports classes are hosted at Spa-Francorchamps. The most notable ones are the FIA World Endurance Championship, FIM Endurance World Championship, European Le Mans Series, Intercontinental GT Challenge, GT World Challenge Europe, FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, FIM Endurance World Championship, International GT Open, ADAC GT Masters and previously the FIA World Rallycross Championship, Sidecar World Championship, DTM and the WTCC. The most famous long-distance and sports car races are the Spa 24 Hours and the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The circuit also hosts a 25-hour and 24-hour races for Citroën 2CV cars.

Events

Current events

16–19 April: 24H Series 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Radical Cup Europe, TCR Europe Cup

23–26 April: Spa Summer Classic

1–2 May: Fun Cup Franco Fun Festival

7–9 May: FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux, Legends of Le Mans

15–17 May: International GT Open, TCR Europe Touring Car Series, Euroformula Open Championship, GT Cup Open Europe, Porsche Carrera Cup Germany

22–24 May: Classic Endurance Racing Spa Classic, GT3 Revival Series

28–31 May: Supercar Challenge Spa Euro Race, Formula Regional European Championship, GB3 Championship

5–6 June: FIM Endurance World Championship 8 Hours of Spa Motos

19–21 June: GT2 European Series SRO Speedweek, British GT Championship, FFSA GT Championship, Porsche Carrera Cup France, French F4 Championship, Alpine Cup Series, TC France Series

25–28 June: Intercontinental GT Challenge / GT World Challenge Europe Spa 24 Hours, GT4 European Series, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, McLaren Trophy Europe

2–5 July: Fun Cup 25 Hours of Spa, Belcar

17–19 July: Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, FIA Formula 2 Championship Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 round, FIA Formula 3 Championship, Porsche Supercup

21–23 August: European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Spa, Le Mans Cup, Ligier European Series

Lap records

The unofficial all-time track record set during a race weekend is 1:40.510, set by Oscar Piastri in a McLaren MCL39, during sprint qualifying for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix. The official lap record for the current circuit layout is 1:44.701, set by Sergio Pérez in a Red Bull Racing RB20 during the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix. As of May 2026, the fastest official race lap records of the modern Spa-Francorchamps circuit for several top series have been listed as:

In popular culture

As the long-time home of the Belgian Grand Prix and its location within the Ardennes forests, it has been a popular backdrop for all kinds of fictional media, from appearances in comics and motion pictures, to regular appearances in video games going back into the 1980s.

Tour de France

The circuit has been used several times in the Tour de France cycling race. In 1980, the circuit was part of an individual time trial stage, won by Bernard Hinault (Renault–Gitane); while in 1989, several laps of the circuit were completed before the finish of the third stage, which was won by PDM–Ultima–Concorde's Raúl Alcalá. In 2017, the circuit was used as part of the third stage, starting in Verviers, Belgium and ending in Longwy, France.

Climate

The area of Spa-Francorchamps is often rainy or having cool air temperatures, which has led to Formula One events such as the 1998 14-car pileup on a waterlogged track and the finish to the 2008 event, when rain fell during the last few laps after an all-dry race. The Royal Meteorological Institute runs weather stations both in Stavelot and in Malmedy, which both show similar oceanic climates with some interior influence.

Although temperatures generally often stay above freezing in winter, snowfall is quite common. During summer, temperatures most often remain in the low 20s, with frequent cloud cover and showers. With the World Endurance race running in spring and the Formula One race in late summer, hot temperatures during high-profile events are rare. Even so, the annual warmest temperature averages above 31 °C (88 °F). The official Spa weather station is located at a similar elevation as the race track a few miles north, and yields similar conditions to the Stavelot and Malmedy stations. Summer May nights may get rather chilly, but stay above frost during the prime season for the circuit.