Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps

[Deleted]

Terrible, terrible thing

[chrisb]

this is indeed terrible news, such a tragic loss - my thoughts are with his family and friends - just awful 

[chrisb]

this is so difficult to comprehend, we all know motor sport is intrinsically dangerous and anyone who steps into a racing car knows the risks and dangers but to hear of such a tragedy is gut-wrenching, and of course the general media are lapping it up, it was a terrible accident and a real shock, so sad, 

[René]

Yes Chris, it is difficult to comprehend. But it has always been like this, this is racing.

And life goes on, also here at the track. People are cheering and singing and looking forward to the race.

Racing is life but life can be cruel.

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[Jamie]

I see they’ve cancelled the sprint race today out of respect....probably a good thing, I expect there are some shell-shocked individuals in the F2 paddock today.

RIP Antoine......I do hope his poor family are ok.

Your excellent post made me think René.... it always seems paradoxical that we can just carry on after such a shocking incident, but the world just gets on with it almost as if nothing had happened.
I remember that when my Uncle was killed in an accident many years ago, I was so angry at the world for carrying on regardless when my family and I were so grief stricken. It seemed impossible that things could just carry on as normal.....I expect that Antoine’s family and friends are feeling something like that now, though we all know it’s the right thing to do....I’m certain that Antoine would want the show to go on. My heart goes out to them...

On a lighter note and in the spirt of carrying on....here’s to a great race today, I hope for a LeClerc win for you to celebrate trackside René!

[René]

Lot’s of tribute for Anthoine Hubert. A huge applause when all the emergency vehicles passed by in formation. And the minute of silence was really silent. Impressive.

The atmosphere is great however. Hoping for a Leclerc win.

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[mikael]

Have a good time, René. Hoping for a cliffhanger of a race - and that the good weather holds.

[Jamie]

Leclerc at last 👍

[Carl]

After all these years it remains a shock and immensely sad when someone is killed, even sadder when they are so young and more acutely when they are robbed of greatness.

On Saturday in Portland, shortly after the terrible news and at the behest of Sebastien Bourdais, drivers and team members held a ceremony of silent remembrance in honor of Hubert.

[Carl]

To this admirer of Rob Walker, the redesign of his strutting ancestor on the banners at Spa appear intended to change the proud and mature image of Johnny Walker into a roguish caricature similar to the childish Captain Morgan of rum infamy. So much for a mature approach to drinking... Should "Keep Walking" instead be "Don't Fall Down"?

Also paradoxical was the huge message on the grass inside the final chicane. Does it encourage sober driving... or is it a coded message promoting marijuana? Should it be read as "Join the pact" or "Joint hep act"? Hepcat jazz musicians may have both joint and answer.

An onscreen graphic during the broadcast probably not meant for public view predicted a 95% likelihood that David Croft will surpass Benny Hill in silly pronouncements.

[mikael]

Beautiful driving by Leclerc. This bodes well for the remainder of the '19 season - not to mention next season!

Regarding the tragic accident of Anthoine Hubert, one poster at Motor Sport Magazine points out that this was a very strong notification of that the construction of all these large tarmac runoff areas is the wrong way to go. This seems fully right to me. In the Spa-case, after having hit the board-clad tyre wall, Hubert's car bounced back over one of those tarmac runoff areas(*), towards the track; and then came Correa, driving through the outer part of same runoff area at full speed. If there had been grass, Correa would have needed to stay on the track (and probably also to brake or at least to lift). And if there had been a gravel trap on either track-side at Raidillon, Hubert's car would not have bounced back towards the track.

(*) That particular tarmac strip seems to serve also as an alternative entrance from the pits (?) - but that doesn't make it any better!

Thinking about "The Esses" at Suzuka, this is, in my humble opinion, how it should be done. Of course the speed is much, much lower here than though Spa's Eau Rouge / Raidillon(**). But if you go off through the Esses, you don't come back onto the track - not a chance.

(**) And then, maybe not so much lower. All corners of this section (including the "First Corner") are very fast, sweeping ones ...



P.S. As mentioned also by the said MSM poster, in the late 90's, the the Eau Rouge / Raidillon section was actually prepared in the "right way", with gravel traps on both sides.

[Deleted]

I'm sorry to say i have looked.

I wish i had not, but i have no one to blame but myself for it.

I will say that in the footage i saw, it looked as i Correa's front wing was missing, perhaps from Alesi's debris, so it could be that his ability to slow down and indeed to steer was somewhat compromised.

When racing i always liked large open areas with no barriers, when i returned to Cadwell Park after many years away, the fact that many of the barriers were much further from the track was a factor in going significantly faster.


I suppose part of the problem is that no one solution is perfect in all cases. Tarmac works well when a car is spinning on all four wheels, and has not the tendency for a car to dig in and flip if approached at the wrong angle. On the other side it simply doesn't slow down a car in the way gravel does, or deter a driver from using it in the way gravel and grass do.

Ugh i'm probably not expressing myself as clearly as i'd like.

I agree in that I think large tarmac runoffs *can* be problematic... though in this case i'm not sure what happened with Correa was necessarily a result of them.

[mikael]

I understand your point, Joe. Run-off areas may be fine (i.e., sufficiently safe) if there's as much space available as at, say, Paul Ricard. But at Eau Rouge / Raidillon, there not any more free space than at Suzuka's "Esses" (especially with consideration of the speed); hence that change from gravel to tarmac seems completely wrong. I do hope that FIA come to such a realization.

[Deleted]

I see your point.

When i was thinking of wide open spaces the image in my mind was coming down the Craner Curves, and even then there was a very decent gravel trap at the end for Old Hairpin, into which i gratefully became embedded rather than hit something hard.

[René]

As Jamie said: "Leclerc at last".

It was a sad weekend with the passing of Anthoine Hubert but it also felt very fitting that Charles Leclerc, Anthoine's friend from childhood, won the race.

I agree with the above discussion that the tarmac run-offs are not always the right solution, certainly not on top of the Raidillon where the speeds are immense.

Despite all the sadness I want to show you my annual picture report of the event. On the friday we walked around the track where I could make the best pictures. I was not there on the saturday and on sunday we where at the busstop chicane. Great spot to watch but a bit more difficult to make good photos. Anyway, I hope you can still enjoy these.