MOTORSPORT
EAU ROUGE: TIME FOR ACTION
No corner should be sacrosanct when it comes to safety
Damien Smith
Six pages of news, insight and opinion from the world of motor racing
RACING LINES
If you think Spa is dangerous now, see how it used to be…
Stefan Bellof died there in a Group C sports car when he made an illjudged move on Jacky Ickx in 1985; Alex Zanardi shook Ayrton Senna to his core by the size of his Formula 1 shunt in 1993; and yet six years later, cavalier teammates Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta put their lives on the line in a high-risk bet over who could take it f lat. That both wrecked their cars is grist to the age-old contradiction of Eau Rouge and Raidillon: that they’ve always been equally deadly and enticing at the same time.
The world’s most famous corner sequence remains the signature flourish of the magnificent Spa- Francorchamps circuit, scene of the not-so-magnificent 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. But as picturesque and daunting as it has always been, it paled in comparison to the fearsome Burnenville and Masta Kink in the minds of apprehensive racing drivers contemplating the original 8.76-mile circuit.