Five memorable editions of F1’s Belgian GP

First held in 1925, the Belgian Grand Prix was one of the seven original races on F1’s inaugural world championship calendar in 1950. Since then, it has played host to numerous memorable grands prix, the large majority held at Spa-Francorchamps. Here’s a look at five remarkable editions of the Belgian GP in recent history.

1992 – Schumacher’s slick gamble yields maiden win

One year on from his astonishing one-off Jordan debut, which prompted Flavio Briatore to snap him up at Benetton, Michael Schumacher truly arrived as a potential world champion.

The race weekend was marked by a heavy crash for Ligier’s Erik Comas in Friday practice at Blanchimont. Ayrton Senna pulled over his McLaren and sprinted to the wreck to help Comas, in the face of oncoming cars, which the Frenchman said may have helped save his life.

There were more heroics on-track in the race as rain soon started to fall, forcing everyone into the pits aside from second-starting Ayrton Senna, who had gambled on the showers being short-lived. It cemented polesitter Nigel Mansell’s commanding lead ahead of team-mate Riccardo Patrese. But an off-track excursion by Schumacher on lap 30 proved pivotal. As he went off, Schumacher and was passed by Martin Brundle, and saw how blistered the rear tyres of his team-mate were, which pushed the German towards a decision to stop for slicks, three laps earlier than Mansell.

Despite the tricky conditions it proved an inspired choice, and in those three laps Schumacher managed to turn a deficit into a five-second lead by the time Mansell had come out of the pits behind him. With Mansell hindered by engine trouble, Schumacher pulled out a 36-second lead to take his first of a record six Spa wins. The win was also the last one for a car equipped with a H-pattern manual gearbox.

1998 – Jordan’s big day after mass pile-up

The wet 1998 Belgian Grand Prix was the scene of one of the biggest pile-ups in F1 history. As cars rounded La Source to start their run up to Eau Rouge, David Coulthard lost his McLaren and veered back onto the racing line after contact with the inside wall. Two seconds of confusion followed as Coulthard disappeared into the spray, but then the consequences were on full display as the Scot’s car triggered a mass pile-up. Cars, wheels and carbon fibre filled the camera shot, like a ticker tape parade from hell.

The aftermath of one of the worst ever F1 crashes

Photo by: Sutton Images

Miraculously, nobody was seriously injured. And as the rules were in those days, drivers were allowed to restart the race in their team’s spare car. But as both cars from Arrows, Tyrrell and Prost were involved, Mika Salo, Ricardo Rosset and Olivier Panis had to sit out the second standing start.

The second attempt wasn’t the cleanest either, with leader Mika Hakkinen spinning around in the same corner and suffering terminal damage. By that point Jordan’s third-starting Damon Hill had already surged into the lead, which the 1996 world champion defended against his nemesis Michael Schumacher until he had to let the German through at the Bus Stop on lap 8.

It was the start of a real demonstration of Michael Schumacher’s prodigious wet-weather skills as the double world champion established a 40-second lead over Hill by lap 25. With title rival Hakkinen out of the race, it was a golden opportunity for Michael Schumacher to leapfrog the Finn in the championship battle.

But as Michael Schumacher came up to lap David Coulthard, the Ferrari driver ran into the back of the second McLaren, forcing both cars into the pitlane for retirement. The German driver was incensed, believing Coulthard had obstructed him on purpose to help Hakkinen, and marched down the McLaren pitlane while a young Stefano Domenicali, then Ferrari’s sporting director, attempted to contain him.

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F300, with missing front wheel and wing, and David Coulthard, McLaren MP4-13 Mercedes, with missing rear wing, in the pitlane

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

After the safety car Hill re-emerged into the lead ahead of team-mate Ralf Schumacher, taking a breakthrough grand prix win for the late Eddie Jordan. Only eight cars finished the race, including Coulthard and Shinji Nakano, who had both come back out of the garage five laps down in a bid to scoop up a point. Spa 1998 really was the mother of all wet-weather races.

2008 – Hamilton loses win after epic Raikkonen scrap

Set against the backdrop of a title fight between McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and the two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and incumbent Kimi Raikkonen, Spa was another pivotal race decided amongst the three protagonists.

Hamilton started from pole on a damp track but didn’t hang on to his lead for very long as he spun on lap 2, allowing Raikkonen through. Two rounds of pitstops didn’t change the order at the front, which meant Raikkonen would take a five-second lead into the final stint.

But the threat of more rain materialised with four laps to go, and as the skies opened over the Ardennes, Raikkonen visibly struggled in the conditions. What ensued was a chaotic battle between the two. Hamilton passed Raikkonen by cutting the final chicane, letting Raikkonen back past on the straight before immediately diving up the inside at La Source. In his stout defence Raikkonen clipped his front wing but escaped damage.

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari F2008, Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes MP4/23

Photo by: Sutton Images

As the rain came down harder Hamilton had to take avoiding action for a spinning Nico Rosberg, allowing Raikkonen back past again. But then Raikkonen immediately spun himself, planting his Ferrari into the wall at Blanchimont and giving Hamilton what looked like a clear run to victory. 

Hamilton struggled to keep his McLaren on the road on the final lap, but had a large enough buffer on the second Ferrari of Massa to take the win home. Or so he thought, as two hours after the race Hamilton was handed a huge 25-second penalty as the stewards deemed he had still gained an advantage in the chicane incident, dropping Hamilton to third and handing the win to Massa instead.

McLaren’s appeal was ruled inadmissible, providing another dramatic turn in a championship that would famously go down to the wire in Brazil.

2019 – Leclerc’s emotional maiden win

The 2019 Belgian GP will always be overshadowed by the tragic loss of Anthoine Hubert, who was killed in a Formula 2 race on Saturday.

The tragedy cast a dark cloud over the event, with an emotional tribute to the 22-year-old Frenchman taking place on Sunday morning followed by a minute’s silence on the grid.

Charles Leclerc, one of Hubert’s friends on the F1 grid, had taken his third pole of his career and was now looking to convert it into a first career win in the most difficult of circumstances.

But while there were fierce battles between Leclerc’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, the latter of which put Leclerc under late pressure, the Monegasque showed nerves of steel and delivered a picture-perfect race to grab his first grand prix victory.

Leclerc’s second win a week later in Monza, in front of the tifosi, would be one of unbridled joy. But his maiden win was one of mixed emotions, with a subdued Ferrari driver pointing to the skies as he stepped out of his car.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1st position, celebrates on arrival in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Motorsport Images

2021 – Verstappen wins shortest ever “race”

A dishonourable mention goes to the 2021 edition, which suffered the ignominy of being the first-ever grand prix without any green flag running.

Weather plagued the Spa weekend once more, with Lando Norris suffering a heavy crash at Raidillon in a delayed qualifying session. In hindsight, then-race director Michael Masi admitted the session shouldn’t have gone ahead given the atrocious conditions, a decision which was criticised at the time by Sebastian Vettel.

But the weather didn’t let up on Sunday either, and the scheduled 3pm local race start kept getting pushed back to find a suitable window. After 25 minutes a first attempt to start the race was suspended following two formation laps. Hours later FIA officials finally got the race under way with two more laps behind the safety car, but with conditions still unsuitable the race was suspended on lap three and never resumed. As the two safety car laps were considered race laps, half points were awarded.

The race result was taken on countback after the first lap, with Verstappen leading Williams driver George Russell home, and Lewis Hamilton crossing the line in third. With only one 7km lap completed, it is by far the shortest F1 race in history and the only race not to feature any green-flag running.

Russell didn’t mind too much, as it was his first career podium for struggling Williams. But in the aftermath officials faced fierce criticism for their decision to start the race for two safety car laps and award half points. F1’s worst farce since the 2005 United States Grand Prix led to rule changes the following winter over the number of points allocated in the event of curtailed race.

Safety Car, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B