Kimi's Love affair with the Spa-Francorchamps circuit continues, as he grabbed the pole position in the Saturday Qualifying session of the Belgian Grand Prix. Raikkonen, a previous winner in 2004 and 2005 will be looking to make it a hat-trick of wins at the legendary circuit. The race was off calender in the 2006 season. Ferrari Team mate Felipe Massa was a close second, while Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton made it an all-Mclaren Mercedes row two.
Spa-Francorchamps, located in the heart of the lovely Ardennes' countryside, has some of the most famous corners in Formula One racing. It is one of the oldest and the most popular circuit, in existence since 1950. It went on a hiatus in the 2006 season to allow extensive improvement work on the track and the facilities. As a result of the extensive overhaul, the circuit's paddock has been upgraded and the pit-lane facilities improved.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS:
Spa's natural beauty, combined with unpredictable weather patterns in the Ardennes makes driving here unique and trecherous. Juan Manuel Fangio, in the Alfa Romeo, won the opening grand prix in 1950, the first of his three victories on this circuit. The undisputed King of the Spa was Scotsman, Jim Clark, who won consecutive 4 Grand Prix here from 1962 onwards.
Such a demanding circuit was bound to claim casualties. In a 1960s race, Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey died. Another driver who suffered the wrath of Spa was triple world Champion, Jackie Stewart, whose crash in 1966(and the poor medical attention he recieved afterwards) acted as catalyst for the start of his campaign for safer racing.
"There was never any doubt that it is a circuit of many dangers,' Stewart said of Spa in his 1969 autobiography. It was the safety aspect that led to the Grand Prix demise of the 14Km circuit in 1970. A link from Les Combes rejoining the old circuit at Les Fagnes was built and the new 6.9 Km circuit met with universal approval, allowing the most damous corner in motor racing, Eau Rouge, to return to the world championship in 1983.
If Clark was the King of the old circuit, then Senna was of the new. He won in 1985 with Lotus and returned to the top step for 4 consecutive years from 1988 in the Mclaren.
The Start of Spa, Located just a few hundred metres before the extremely confined La source Hairpin, is often the scene of first lap mayhem and carnage. The most famous incident happened in 1998 when almost the entire field became embroiled in a pile-up that stretched down the hill and past the old pits. Fortunately, modern, safety-regulated formula one cars prevented any injuries that day.
Coming back to the 2007 season, with only four races remaining, Lewis Hamilton(Mclaren) holds a slim three-point advantage over team-mate and two time world Champion Fernando Alonso. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen is 18 points and Felipe Massa is 23 points behind leader Hamilton. After the outcome of the spygate scandal, it would be interesting to see what Mclaren has in store for this racing weekend, considering they don't get any points from this race. Mclaren Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Alonso though, are still fighting it out for the Drivers Championship. With Mclaren already thrown out of Constructors Championship, Ferrari can still look for a good finish to stay well clear of the nearest rival BMW.
HISTORY Inputs from: FORMULA ONE: THE STORY OF GRAND PRIX RACING by Behram Kapadia
with a Foreword from ALAIN PROST
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