Belgian GP 2022: Eau Rouge set to remain flat out in the new revamped Spa-Francorchamps
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Mark Webber overtaking Fernando Alonso into Eau Rouge from the 2011 Belgian GP
Formula 1 returns to Belgium this weekend, and it is always a hotly anticipated event. The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is one of Formula 1’s most iconic and beloved venues, and fans will be eager to see racing at it again, especially after what happened there last year, with the extremely heavy rain conditions.
Recently, there have been major changes to the track in the interest of safety. There have been changes to multiple corners, including Eau Rouge. This has been part of an 80 million overhaul of the venue. Of course, with multiple changes, fans would be concerned about perhaps the most iconic corner of the Belgian GP, which is Eau Rouge, but there is nothing to worry about.
As reported by Motorsport, Jarno Zaffreli, who is the founder of the Dromo Circuit design company that has been responsible for the revamping, says that despite changes around the corner, Eau Rouge is still flat out, as it has been in the past. Zafrelli said: “It will be a flat-out corner and it will provide opportunities. The cars will feel the difference between the new asphalt and the old one.”
Also Read: Belgian GP 2022: Will rain yet again play a huge factor over the course of the weekend?
Dromo worked their way through 20 different concepts of the track
With the new changes and repaving, he also expects the track to be generally faster than it was before. Of course, with the new regulations, these cars are significantly slower than the last year’s cars, which means that even though the pole time at this weekend’s Belgian GP is unlikely to be faster, the differences should still be minimal.
He said: “If we look at the GT cars during the 24 Hours of Spa, the pole was 1.7s faster than the previous year. We know that this year the F1 cars are generally slower than 2021, so here there won’t to be a big gap.”
The faster track is a result of the newer asphalt material: “Last time that the track was paved was almost 20 years ago. Since that time, the performance of the race vehicles and motorbikes has hugely increased. The technology available for asphalt materials and paving equipment have also changed dramatically.”
He also added: “In the design and the further developments, we took into consideration the new regulations and the new tyres. We had like 20+ iterations of Eau Rouge. We spent several days with professional drivers in our in-house simulators to get their feedback.”
Max Verstappen will be looking to notch his second win in a row in Belgium, even if last year’s race win has somewhat of an asterisk attached. On the other hand, Ferrari and Charles Leclerc desperately need the win if they want any hope to win the championship(s). Mercedes may also be back in the game as a result of the technical directives. There is definitely cause for excitement.
Also Read: Top 3 overtakes through Raidillion Eau Rouge at the Belgian GP over the years
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)