Spa, the jewel in Formula One's crown
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, president of Uganda, revolutionary leader and visionary has often expressed frustration about Belgium. He is at pains to understand what about the tiny western European country qualifies its denizens to lead as charmed a life as other western Europeans. The sum total of Museveni’s argument is that the Belgians do not “deserve” to be so well to do. “The Belgians have nothing,” he says, “but they are very rich.” This is obviously something which greatly annoys the president. “You Africans have everything,” he says with a curled lip, “and yet you still have jiggers!”
I was minded to point this out to an annoying Belgian a few years ago but decided instead that discretion was the better part of valour. I had arrived at Brussels Airport and found myself confronted by a large immigration fellow with facial furniture of which even King Leopold would have been proud.
“Where have you arrived from today?” asked the bewhiskered Belgian.
“London, England,” I said, “home of the Wilkinson Sword razor company. I happen to have a fine example of their excellent products in my bag and would be only too happy to donate it to you because I see that your need is far greater than mine.”
He harrumphed irritably. “What is the purpose of your visit?” he said.
“Why, to see the Belgian Grand Prix, of course,” I said.
His eyes bulged and his whiskers rose about an inch. “You are going to Spa-Francorchamps? A likely story. Let me see your ticket,” he demanded.
I reached into my breast pocket, extracted the required item and handed it to beardy. When he inspected it, he was visibly impressed, for not only was it the genuine article, it had my name indelibly printed on it. He handed it back to me begrudgingly.
“The race should be over by 5:00 pm at the latest,” he said. “I want you out of Belgium by no more than 24 hours later.”
“Be reasonable,” I said, “I have arranged to see a chap about some Magritte paintings on Tuesday morning and…”
“Next!” the man roared.
I took exception to this treatment and haven’t been back to Belgium since then but, taking everything into consideration and totting up the pluses and minuses, I am forced to the conclusion that Belgium narrowly wins on this one: Gitau’s losses are greater than Belgium’s. Most significant of these is denial to myself of the pleasure invariably provided by the Belgian Grand Prix. Spa is without a doubt the greatest race track on the calendar (perhaps I ought to point this out to Mr Museveni).
Apart from the demanding nature of the circuit design, Spa presents unique challenges because of its unpredictability. Set high up in the Ardennes mountains, the area has its own micro-climate. Rain is almost a certainty at Spa but rather than rain uniformly across the circuit, it can be raining at one end and sunny and dry at another. Car set-up and tyre choices are, therefore, notoriously difficult to get right. This is a circuit where raw driving skill pays huge dividends. Drivers who have an instinctive feel for the circuit and possess no fear love Spa. It is no surprise that the list of Spa experts reads like a who’s-who of Formula One greatness: Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher et al. More recently Kimi Raikkonen has come to “own” Spa by winning three of the last four races there. Lewis Hamilton showed he had class at the old circuit last year but came against some crass stupidity from blinkered stewards and was denied a well earned victory.
It is difficult to predict how things will pan out this weekend. A lot is riding on this Grand Prix. Jenson Button’s championship could do with the boost a win would give him but the Brawn cars seem to struggle with tyre temperatures when driving at circuits which aren’t bakingly hot. We saw this at Silverstone this year when Red Bull easily coasted to the chequered flag well ahead of everybody else. Still, the word on the street is that Brawn have worked out what the problem is and should be competitive. It remains to be seen whether Button has been spooked by his team-mate Barrichello after the latter’s strategically clever win in Spain last week. Nothing would give the Brazilian greater joy than winning the world championship, so he must be looked at as Button’s most credible threat.
If I was considering a wager on this race I would put my money on either Kimi Raikkonen or Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen needs to show that rumours about him having lost interest in Formula One are unfounded. Spa probably offers the best opportunity for this in 2009. Hamilton must be smarting from last year’s disaster and needs to add his name to the winners list if he is properly to be considered the rain master. Going by both drivers’ performances last weekend, victory on Sunday should be well within each of their capabilities.
The other thing to point out to Mr Museveni is that no country on the planet produces a greater variety of beers than Belgium. There are far too many to choose from for me to make any recommendation but I would advise getting your hands on a few before sitting back on Sunday to,
Enjoy Spa!
Gitau
28 August 2009
I was minded to point this out to an annoying Belgian a few years ago but decided instead that discretion was the better part of valour. I had arrived at Brussels Airport and found myself confronted by a large immigration fellow with facial furniture of which even King Leopold would have been proud.
“Where have you arrived from today?” asked the bewhiskered Belgian.
“London, England,” I said, “home of the Wilkinson Sword razor company. I happen to have a fine example of their excellent products in my bag and would be only too happy to donate it to you because I see that your need is far greater than mine.”
He harrumphed irritably. “What is the purpose of your visit?” he said.
“Why, to see the Belgian Grand Prix, of course,” I said.
His eyes bulged and his whiskers rose about an inch. “You are going to Spa-Francorchamps? A likely story. Let me see your ticket,” he demanded.
I reached into my breast pocket, extracted the required item and handed it to beardy. When he inspected it, he was visibly impressed, for not only was it the genuine article, it had my name indelibly printed on it. He handed it back to me begrudgingly.
“The race should be over by 5:00 pm at the latest,” he said. “I want you out of Belgium by no more than 24 hours later.”
“Be reasonable,” I said, “I have arranged to see a chap about some Magritte paintings on Tuesday morning and…”
“Next!” the man roared.
I took exception to this treatment and haven’t been back to Belgium since then but, taking everything into consideration and totting up the pluses and minuses, I am forced to the conclusion that Belgium narrowly wins on this one: Gitau’s losses are greater than Belgium’s. Most significant of these is denial to myself of the pleasure invariably provided by the Belgian Grand Prix. Spa is without a doubt the greatest race track on the calendar (perhaps I ought to point this out to Mr Museveni).
Apart from the demanding nature of the circuit design, Spa presents unique challenges because of its unpredictability. Set high up in the Ardennes mountains, the area has its own micro-climate. Rain is almost a certainty at Spa but rather than rain uniformly across the circuit, it can be raining at one end and sunny and dry at another. Car set-up and tyre choices are, therefore, notoriously difficult to get right. This is a circuit where raw driving skill pays huge dividends. Drivers who have an instinctive feel for the circuit and possess no fear love Spa. It is no surprise that the list of Spa experts reads like a who’s-who of Formula One greatness: Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher et al. More recently Kimi Raikkonen has come to “own” Spa by winning three of the last four races there. Lewis Hamilton showed he had class at the old circuit last year but came against some crass stupidity from blinkered stewards and was denied a well earned victory.
It is difficult to predict how things will pan out this weekend. A lot is riding on this Grand Prix. Jenson Button’s championship could do with the boost a win would give him but the Brawn cars seem to struggle with tyre temperatures when driving at circuits which aren’t bakingly hot. We saw this at Silverstone this year when Red Bull easily coasted to the chequered flag well ahead of everybody else. Still, the word on the street is that Brawn have worked out what the problem is and should be competitive. It remains to be seen whether Button has been spooked by his team-mate Barrichello after the latter’s strategically clever win in Spain last week. Nothing would give the Brazilian greater joy than winning the world championship, so he must be looked at as Button’s most credible threat.
If I was considering a wager on this race I would put my money on either Kimi Raikkonen or Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen needs to show that rumours about him having lost interest in Formula One are unfounded. Spa probably offers the best opportunity for this in 2009. Hamilton must be smarting from last year’s disaster and needs to add his name to the winners list if he is properly to be considered the rain master. Going by both drivers’ performances last weekend, victory on Sunday should be well within each of their capabilities.
The other thing to point out to Mr Museveni is that no country on the planet produces a greater variety of beers than Belgium. There are far too many to choose from for me to make any recommendation but I would advise getting your hands on a few before sitting back on Sunday to,
Enjoy Spa!
Gitau
28 August 2009
posted by Gitau at 5:18 pm
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