Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Track configurations

Original layout

In 1918, German headquarters were in Spa, and in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles separated the Eupen-Malmedy region from Prussia and the German Empire. Between January and June 1920, a plebiscite was held, without a secret ballot and under other questionable circumstances. As a result, the Transitional Government prepared for the unification of Eupen-Malmedy with Belgium in June 1925.

Jules de Thier, owner of the Liège newspaper La Meuse, was looking for a site to host a race, and following a meeting at the Hotel des Bruyères in Francorchamps, with burgomaster Joseph de Crawhez and racing-car driver Henri Langlois van Ophem, it was decided that the roads from Spa-Francorchamps to the former German Malmedy, to Stavelot, and back towards Francorchamps constituted an ideal triangle-shaped circuit with few tight corners and long fast sections. Eau Rouge creek was the Belgian-German Empire border until 1920, with the Ancienne Douane customs office being rather recent than ancient. After passing through former German Bürnenville, the track crossed the former border again halfway on the road between Malmedy and Stavelot, at the junction of the Meiz road. In Stavelot, there was a sharp right-hander, later replaced with a sweeping bypass.

The track's inaugural race was planned for August 1921, but was cancelled when only one driver entered. The first car race was held at the circuit in 1922, and 1924 saw the first running of the now famous 24 Hours of Francorchamps race. The circuit was first used for Grand Prix racing in 1925.

The original Spa-Francorchamps circuit was essentially a speed course, with drivers managing higher average speeds than on other road race tracks. At the time, the Belgians took pride in having a very fast circuit, and to improve average speeds, in 1939 the former Ancienne Douane slow uphill U-turn after the bottom of the Eau Rouge creek valley was cut short with a faster sweep straight up the hill, called the Raidillon. In public traffic until 2000, at Eau Rouge, southbound traffic was allowed to use the famous uphill corner, while the opposite downhill traffic had to use the old road and U-turn behind the grandstands, rejoining the race track at the bottom of Eau Rouge. Around 2001, a new bypass road N62c was built to the East, and the track was closed to the public as the road from Stavelot to Blanchimont became a cul-de-sac.

The old race track continued through the Kemmel curves (straightened in 1979) to the highest part of the track (102.2 m above the lowest part), then went downhill into Les Combes, a fast, slightly banked downhill left-hand corner towards Burnenville, passing this village in a fast right hand sweep. Near Malmedy, the Masta straight began, which was only interrupted by the Masta Kink between farm houses before arriving at the town of Stavelot. Then, the track progressed through an uphill straight section with a few bends called La Carriere, going through two high-speed turns (the former being an unnamed right-hand turn, and the latter named Blanchimont) before braking very hard for La Source hairpin, that rejoined the downhill start finish section (as opposed to today where the start–finish section is before La Source).

Spa is located in the Belgian Ardennes countryside, and the long old circuit was, and for most parts still is, used as an everyday public road, and there were houses, trees, electric poles, fields and other obstacles located right next to the track. Before 1970, there were no safety modifications of any kind done to the circuit and the conditions of the circuit were, aside from a few straw bales, virtually identical to everyday civilian use. Former Formula One racing driver and team owner Jackie Oliver was quoted as saying "if you went off the road, you didn't know what you were going to hit".

Before the 1979 changes, Spa-Francorchamps was the fastest road circuit in Europe, and it had a reputation for being dangerous and very fast – it demanded calmness from drivers, and most were frightened of it. The old Spa circuit was unique in that speeds were consistently high with hardly any let-up at all for three to four minutes. This made it an extraordinarily difficult mental challenge, because most of the corners were taken at more than 180 mph and were not quite flat – every corner was as important as the one before it. If a driver lifted the throttle more than expected, then whole seconds, not tenths, would be lost. The slightest error of any kind carried multiple harsh consequences, but this also worked inversely: huge advantages could be gained if a driver came out of a corner slightly faster.

Like the Le Mans circuit, which also ran on public roads, Spa became notorious for fatal accidents. At the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix, two drivers, Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey, were killed within 15 minutes (although Stacey's accident was caused by a bird hitting him in the face) and Stirling Moss had crashed at Burnenville during practice and was severely injured. When Armco crash barriers were added to the track in 1970, deaths became less frequent, but the track was still notorious for other factors. The Ardennes forest had very unpredictable weather, to the point that some areas were experiencing heavy rains while others had clear skies. This factor was a commonality on long circuits, but the unpredictable weather at Spa, combined with the fact that it was a track with all but one corner being high-speed, made it one of, if not the most, dangerous race track in the world. As a result, the Formula 1 and motorcycle Grands Prix and 1000 km sportscar races saw smaller than usual fields at Spa because most drivers and riders feared the circuit and did not like racing there. Multiple fatalities during the 1973 and 1975 24 Hours of Spa touring car races more or less sealed the old circuit's fate, and by 1978, the last year Spa was in its original form, the only major races held there were the Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix and the Spa 24 Hours touring car race; the 1000 km World Sportscar Championship race no longer took place after 1975 and did not come back until 1982.

In 1969, the Belgian Grand Prix was boycotted by Formula One drivers due to the extreme danger. There had been ten car racing fatalities in total at the track in the 1960s, five of which had come in the last two years. The drivers demanded changes made to Spa which were not possible on short notice, so the Belgian Grand Prix was dropped that year. Armco barriers were added to the track and sections of it were improved (especially the Stavelot and Hollowell sections), just like they had been added for the 1969 Le Mans race. One last race there the following year on the improved track was still not satisfactory enough (even after a temporary chicane was added at Malmedy just for that race) for the drivers in terms of safety, and even with the chicane, the drivers averaged over 150 mph during the race. For the 1971 race, the track owners and authorities had not brought the track up to date with mandatory safety measures, and the race was cancelled. Formula One would not return to Spa until 1983 on the modern track.

Masta Kink====

The Masta Kink "was by far the most difficult corner in the world", according to Jackie Stewart, who was an F1 driver at the time. After a long run from Malmedy, the cars would reach top speed before having to negotiate Masta, a high speed left-right chicane, and a good exit speed was vital as it was followed by another long straight run to Stavelot. This was a fast and dangerous corner, as it was situated in the middle of two long unbroken straights, both about 1.5 mi long. The speed in this sector could reach 185 mph.

Masta was removed from F1 racing after the 1970 season. Jackie Stewart's aim to improve safety in racing was set in motion by his crash there in 1966, when his BRM ended upside-down in a ditch near a farmhouse on the outside of the corner, with fuel gushing out of the tank onto Stewart, who had broken ribs. At this point, many of the Formula One drivers disliked Spa (including Stewart and Jim Clark, who had some of his greatest wins there) because of the immense speeds that were constant on the track. While he was spectating at the 1972 12 Hours of Sebring, Stewart attempted to organise a boycott of the Spa 1000 km race that year, a move that was not respected by many of the drivers, because Spa was still popular with racing drivers outside of Formula One. Stewart later described the old Spa circuit in 1986 as being as "ferocious as a tiger", and he later described Masta in an interview in 2011 as perhaps the hardest corner on any racetrack he raced on in his career; even more so than Eau Rouge.

At the 1972 24-hour touring car race, during one of his pit stops at night, Hans-Joachim Stuck shouted to his co-driver Jochen Mass over the noise from the cars that he should "look out for body parts at the Masta Kink". Mass arrived there expecting to see pieces from cars all over the road, but discovered it was instead the remains of marshal Léon Grisard, who had been run over by Walter Brun whilst inspecting the track.

After Masta, and at the end of the subsequent Hollowell Straight, there used to be a sharp hairpin at the entrance to the town itself, which was later bypassed by a quicker, banked right hand corner. Another fast section of road in the forest leads to Blanchimont. Here, the new short Grand Prix track of 1979 joins the old layout.

Eighteen Formula One World Championship Grands Prix were run on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit's original configuration, which was boycotted by F1 in 1969, before the revised circuit abandoned it in 1979. The lap record of the old triangle-shaped track is 3 minutes and 13.4 seconds, held by the French driver Henri Pescarolo, driving a Matra at the 1973 Spa 1000 km World Sportscar Championship race at an average speed of 262 km/h, but the fastest ever recorded time of the old Spa circuit was the pole position time for the same race—3 minutes and 12.7 seconds by Jacky Ickx in a Ferrari 312PB.

New layout

Two-time F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso explained:

Taking the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge flat out is a long-standing challenge for drivers. Touring cars can take the corner at 160–180 km/h, and Formula One cars at over 300 km/h due to high downforce. World Champion Jacques Villeneuve once spoke of the effects of downforce, saying that to get through the corner the drivers have to drive faster, because downforce increases the faster a race car goes. Without lifting the throttle through Eau Rouge, a car would be flat out from La Source, along the Kemmel straight to Les Combes, a total distance of 2.015 km.

A loss of control through this section can often lead to a heavy shunt, as usually the rear end of the car is lost, and the resulting impact is often lateral. Several famous racing drivers have crashed while driving through Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge, including Stefan Bellof fatally in a Porsche sportscar, Guy Renard during the 1990 24h of Spa-Francorchamps in a Toyota Corolla GT, and Alex Zanardi in a season-ending crash during a practice session of the 1993 Belgian Grand Prix in a Lotus. Jacques Villeneuve suffered a heavy crash at the top of Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge in qualifying during the 1999 Belgian Grand Prix, which he described as "my best-ever crash". His teammate Ricardo Zonta followed Villeneuve by having a similar accident later in practice, leading cartoonist Jim Bamber to show BAR boss Craig Pollock telling Zonta: "Jacques is the quickest through Eau Rouge, so go out there and do exactly what Jacques does…" It was revealed later that Villeneuve and Zonta had a personal bet to see if either could take the corner flat out.

Following the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994, the following F1 races saw the introduction of chicanes made up from stacked tyres. The entry to Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge was obstructed in such a way in 1994, although it was returned to its previous configuration the following year. The corner was slightly modified for the 2002 Belgian Grand Prix.

When fans first saw the course configuration at the start of the weekend of the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix, they noted that an uphill kink on the back straight was similar to Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge; the kink was therefore jokingly dubbed "Faux Rouge" (a pun on the name of the original Spa corner using the French word "faux", meaning "false").

Blanchimont

The Blanchimont high-speed left-hand turn, present in both the old 14.100 km circuit and the new, shorter, 7.004 km track, is the final sweeping corner of the track before the chicane, which leads to the pit straight.

This turn and the approach to it have been the scene of severe accidents over time, the most recent being in 2001, when Luciano Burti lost the front wing of his Prost due to a clash with Eddie Irvine's Jaguar, losing front downforce and steering, leaving the track at 185 mph and piling into the tyre wall, the impact knocking him out and burying the car into a mound of tyres. Problems have also occurred in lower classes of racing with Tom Kristensen having a violent crash in a Formula 3000 car in 1997 after running wide on the entry to the Blanchimont turn and subsequently hitting the wall, throwing the monocoque back out in the middle of the track, where it was hit by numerous cars before coming to a complete halt.

The run-off area is narrower than in other turns taken at this speed, and behind the protective barriers there is a 7–8 metre drop. This is the first turn taken by the cars after the new track rejoins the route of the old 14.100 km track. Blanchimont was also the scene where in 1992 after Érik Comas had crashed heavily during Friday's session; Ayrton Senna stopped, disembarked his car and sprinted to help the injured driver, with other cars driving past at racing speeds.

Jacky Ickx corner

From the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix turn 11 has been called the Jacky Ickx corner as a tribute to his career. The corner was formerly known by most drivers as either "Speakers corner" because the circuit's public address announcer could see the cars for the first time after the cars disappeared into the forest past Raidillon de l’Eau Rouge, or simply "The Corner with No Name". There are two versions of Jacky Ickx as of 2022, being the primary corner for cars and a shorter corner for motorcycles.

Problems and renovations

Due to the introduction of the Television Without Frontiers Directive (1989), tobacco advertising and sponsorship on television were banned within the European Union from 1991, causing Formula One to face a major threat regarding races in Europe. Due to these political and legislative circumstances, the Grand Prix at Spa was left out of the 2003 calendar as a response to the internal tobacco legislation in Belgium. The event was tagged as a world class event within the national senate, and thus it was saved for the 2004 Formula One season. The final Bus Stop chicane was reprofiled for 2004 with an additional sweep to the right.

Spa was dropped from the Formula One calendar in . The organiser of the event went bankrupt in late 2005, and therefore the planned improvements to the race track and paddock had not yet been made. The Wallonia government stepped in and provided the necessary funds, but too late for the 2006 race to take place.

Redevelopment for the 2007 season

With a new financial backer, the renovation started on 6 November 2006 and finished in May 2007, costing around €19 million. Formula 1 returned to Spa for , with a modified track layout. The Bus Stop chicane was moved back towards Blanchimont and the La Source hairpin moved forward. This allowed more space for the new pit lane, and gave a longer start/finish straight.

Modifications

New asphalt runoff was added to the inside and outside of Les Combes for the 2010 race, in line with the prevailing trends at other Formula One circuits. Prior to the 2013 race, drainage grooves were cut into the asphalt on the start–finish straight, underneath the first 11 grid slots. Drivers were initially concerned that this would affect grip at the start.

Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge safety concerns

In Spa Francorchamps' tenure as a permanent racing facility, after it was removed from the public road network in 2000, there have been multiple accidents in the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge combination. Due to driver safety being paramount to racing organizations and governing bodies like the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, these crashes opened up public debate on whether the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge combination was deemed unsafe. Criticism centred around the nature of the tyre barrier and run-off area of Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge, which tended to bounce out-of-control cars back onto the track rather than collect them.

In October 2020 the circuit announced that gravel traps would be placed at La Source, Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge, Blanchimont, Les Combes and Stavelot. The runoff areas of some corners including Raidillon would be expanded. It was part of an €80 million upgrade to the circuit that would make it able to hold motorcycle races. The upgrade will also include a grandstand at the top of the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge hill. The upgrades were completed in March 2022, ready for the FIM Endurance World Championship race held in June. The circuit was also shortened to 6.985 km, as the Jacky Ickx corner is bypassed in favour of a shorter section with more runoff for motorcycles.

Fatal crash of Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert in 2019

During the Formula 2 feature race in late August, a serious incident between Anthoine Hubert and Juan Manuel Correa occurred shortly after Raidillon on the Kemmel Straight. As the second lap began, Trident driver Giuliano Alesi lost control of his car as he climbed the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge curves due to a puncture he had received earlier, causing his car to spin and hit the left wall of the circuit, tearing off his rear wing and spreading debris onto the track. As another Trident driver, Ralph Boschung reached the crest of Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge, he slowed down and moved towards the run-off area to avoid Alesi's damaged car and the field of debris. Hubert, who was following Boschung closely and had no view of what had happened to Alesi, moved right to avoid Boschung's slowing car, clipping Boschung's right rear wheel with his front wing. Hubert's car crashed into the tyre barrier on the right side of the track along the Kemmel straight at an acute angle and was deflected sideways into the path of Charouz driver Juan Manuel Correa, who struck it on the left side in the driver seat area.

The incident resulted in the death of Hubert and serious injury to Correa, with the feature race being abandoned and the scheduled sprint race a day later being cancelled too, whilst the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix went ahead.

2021 W Series and Formula One incidents

During the qualifying session of the W Series, rain started to fall, affecting the grip. This caused an incident that involved six cars crashing into each other. Sarah Moore was the first driver to lose control of her car, spinning into the barrier at Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge. Abbie Eaton also lost the car and spun into the same barrier. She bounced back into Moore at low speed. Beitske Visser lost the rear end, spun around and went straight into Eaton and Moore, causing Eaton to become airborne. Ayla Ågren did the same as Visser, spinning and running into Moore and an airborne Eaton. Belén García then hit all four cars, causing Visser to become airborne and mount the tyre barrier. The final car of Fabienne Wohlwend then hit Beitske Visser head on, causing Visser to spin into the track and roll over. The incident ended with cars all over the track and run off areas. All drivers were checked as a precaution, and Visser and Agren were sent to hospital for x-rays and further checks. Eventually, all drivers were cleared and unharmed.

Just one day after the W Series crash, Formula One held its qualifying session in heavy rain. In the third segment of qualifying, many drivers were complaining that the conditions were not safe and that the session should be delayed or red flagged. Lando Norris then had a snap of oversteer, and subsequently corrected, but then aquaplaned into the tyre barrier at Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge. His McLaren then spun into the track while crossing the racing line. Norris was taken to hospital for x-rays, but was cleared to race the next day.

After this crash and the W Series incident just a day before, drivers from all series were calling for changes to that section of the track on social media and interviews, including Jack Aitken, who a month earlier suffered a broken collarbone and fractured vertebra after a crash at Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge in the 2021 24 Hours of Spa, alongside Zhou Guanyu, Pietro Fittipaldi, Carlos Sainz Jr., Sacha Fenestraz, Jake Hughes, Daniel Ricciardo, and Toto Wolff, who all publicly agreed that changes need to be made immediately to make the circuit safer.

Other incidents

Multiple other incidents have happened at the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge section of the circuit. These include crashes for Kevin Magnussen in 2016, where he managed to walk away with only minor injuries; Pietro Fittipaldi in 2018, where he broke his leg, and Jack Aitken in 2021, where he broke his collarbone, and the fatal crash of Dilano van 't Hoff in 2023.

Redevelopment for the 2022 season

Ahead of the 2022 FIM EWC 24H Spa EWC Motos race and 2022 F1 Grand Prix, the circuit underwent a major facility and safety facility redevelopment which had been planned since . Extra run-off was added to the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge part of the course – changes made in response to several big accidents in recent years at that section of the track, including the fatal accident of Anthoine Hubert during the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 round. In addition, gravel traps were added to and modified at various corners around the circuit including: La Source, Les Combes, Speaker's Corner, Pouhon (or double gauche), Stavelot, and Blanchimont. The track has also been resurfaced for this year's event altering track grip levels, with Max Verstappen being the first driver to run a Formula One car around the renovated circuit in a Red Bull RB7. , head of Dromo Circuit Design, the company who carried out the renovations, revealed that twenty possible different iterations of Eau Rouge were evaluated, with the selected iteration chosen with the help of form of ex-Formula One drivers Thierry Boutsen and Emanuele Pirro and fine tuned with simulations for Formula One and GT cars.

Spa-Francorchamps is part of the 2023 Formula 1 calendar, and its contract was extended to 2025 in October 2023.

Other racing series

Besides Formula 1 other races in different motorsports classes are hosted at Spa-Francorchamps. The most notable ones are the FIA World Endurance Championship, FIM Endurance World Championship, European Le Mans Series, Intercontinental GT Challenge, GT World Challenge Europe, FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, FIM Endurance World Championship, International GT Open, ADAC GT Masters and previously the FIA World Rallycross Championship, Sidecar World Championship, DTM and the WTCC. The most famous long-distance and sports car races are the Spa 24 Hours and the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The circuit also hosts a 25-hour and 24-hour races for Citroën 2CV cars.

; Current events

• 16–19 April: 24H Series 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Radical Cup Europe, TCR Europe Touring Car Series Cup
• 23–26 April: Spa Summer Classic
• 1–2 May: Fun Cup Franco Fun Festival
• 7–9 May: FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux, Legends of Le Mans
• 15–17 May: International GT Open, TCR Europe Touring Car Series, Euroformula Open Championship, GT Cup Open Europe, Porsche Carrera Cup Germany
• 22–24 May: Classic Endurance Racing **, GT3 Revival Series
• 28–31 May: Supercar Challenge Spa Euro Race, Formula Regional European Championship, GB3 Championship
• 5–6 June: FIM Endurance World Championship 8 Hours of Spa Motos
• 19–21 June: GT2 European Series SRO Speedweek, British GT Championship, FFSA GT Championship, Porsche Carrera Cup France, French F4 Championship, Alpine Cup Series, TC France Series
• 25–28 June: Intercontinental GT Challenge / GT World Challenge Europe Spa 24 Hours, GT4 European Series, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, McLaren Trophy Europe
• 2–5 July: Fun Cup 25 Hours of Spa, Belcar
• 17–19 July: Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, FIA Formula 2 Championship Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 round, FIA Formula 3 Championship, Porsche Supercup
• 21–23 August: European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Spa, Le Mans Cup, Ligier European Series
• 28–30 August: ADAC Racing Weekend Spa, GT Summer Series
• 3–5 September: 992 Endurance Cup, Prototype Cup Europe, 7 Racing Eurocup
• 17–20 September: Ultimate Cup Series
• 24–27 September: Spa Six Hours, Porsche Sprint Challenge Benelux

; Former events

• ADAC Formel Masters (2011, 2013)
• ADAC Formula 4 (2015, 2022)
• ADAC GT Masters (2013, 2015, 2024)
• ATS Formel 3 Cup (2011–2013)
• Auto GP (2002–2004, 2006–2008, 2010)
• BOSS GP (2003, 2008–2011, 2020)
• BPR Global GT Series (1994, 1996)
• British Formula 3 International Series (1984–1988, 1997–2000, 2003–2004, 2006–2014)
• Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (2005, 2020, 2022)
• DTM Trophy (2020, 2022)
• EFDA Nations Cup (1990)
• Eurocup-3 (2023–2025)
• Eurocup Clio (2011–2013)
• Eurocup Mégane Trophy (2008–2013)
• European Formula Two Championship (1981–1982)
• European Touring Car Championship (1966–1973, 1976, 1982–1986, 1988, 2002–2004)
• European Touring Car Cup (2014)
• Ferrari Challenge Europe (1997–2007, 2011–2012, 2018, 2020–2021, 2023, 2025)
• Ferrari Challenge UK (2023)
• F4 Spanish Championship (2021–2023)
• FIA European Formula 3 Cup (2004)
• FIA European Rallycross Championship (2019, 2021–2022)
• FIA Formula 3 European Championship (2012, 2014–2018)
• FIA Formula 3 International Trophy (2011)
• FIA GT Championship (1997, 2001–2009)
• FIA GT1 World Championship (2010)
• FIA GT3 European Championship (2006)
• FIA Sportscar Championship (1999–2003)
• FIA World Rallycross Championship
  • World RX of Benelux (2019, 2021–2022)
• Formula 3 Euro Series (2005)
• Formula Abarth (2011)
• Formula BMW ADAC (2005)
• Formula BMW Europe (2008–2010)
• Formula Palmer Audi (2000, 2003–2006, 2008)
• Formula Renault 2.0 Alps (2011–2015)
• Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup (1999, 2008–2009)
• Formula Renault Eurocup (1993–1995, 1997–2000, 2002, 2004, 2008–2020)
• Formula Renault Northern European Cup (2006–2018)
• Formula Renault V6 Eurocup (2003–2004)
• French Formula Three Championship (2000–2001)
• French Supertouring Championship (2000–2001)
• GP2 Series
  • Spa-Francorchamps GP2 round (2005, 2007–2016)
• GP3 Series (2010–2018)
• Grand Prix motorcycle racing
  • Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix (1949–1979, 1981–1986, 1988–1990)
• GT4 Scandinavia (2022–2023)
• International Formula 3000 (1985–1987, 1989, 1991–2002, 2004)
• International Formula Master (2005, 2009)
• International GTSprint Series (2011–2012)
• Italian F4 Championship (2022–2023)
• Italian Formula Renault Championship (2002–2009)
• Italian Formula Three Championship (2011)
• Racecar Euro Series (2012)
• Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain (2015)
• (2008, 2015)
• Prototype Cup Germany (2022, 2024–2025)
• Renault Sport Trophy (2015–2016)
• SEAT León Eurocup (2014)
• Sidecar World Championship (1949–1979, 1981–1990, 2022–2023)
• Super Tourenwagen Cup (1994–1995)
• Superbike World Championship (1992)
• Superstars Series (2011–2012)
• TCR International Series (2016–2017)
• TCR UK Touring Car Championship (2019)
• TCR World Tour (2023)
• Trofeo Maserati (2004–2006, 2014)
• World Series Formula V8 3.5 (2006–2017)
• World Sportscar Championship (1953, 1963–1975, 1981–1990)
• World Touring Car Championship
  • WTCC Race of Belgium (1987, 2005, 2014)
• W Series (2021)

Layout history

| File:Spa-Francorchamps original layout (1922).jpg | Original Grand Prix Circuit (1921–1938) | File:Spa Francorchamps 1939-1978 circuit.png | Old Grand Prix Circuit (1939-1978) | File:Spa-Francorchamps 1979.jpg | Modern Grand Prix Circuit (1979–1980) | File:Spa 1996.jpg | Modern Grand Prix Circuit with Original Bus Stop Chicane (1981–1993, 1995–2003) | File:Spa 1994.svg | Modern Grand Prix Circuit with Modified Eau Rouge Chicane (1994) | File:Spa 2004.jpg | Modern Grand Prix Circuit with Modified Bus Stop Chicane (2004–2006) | File:Spa Francorchamps 2007.jpg | Modern Grand Prix with New Pit Lane and Bus Stop Chicane (2007–present) | File:Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps - Rallycross.svg | Rallycross Circuit (2019–present)

Lap records

The unofficial all-time track record set during a race weekend is 1:40.510, set by Oscar Piastri in a McLaren MCL39, during sprint qualifying for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix. The official lap record for the current circuit layout is 1:44.701, set by Sergio Pérez in a Red Bull Racing RB20 during the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix. As of September 2025, the fastest official race lap records of the modern Spa-Francorchamps circuit for several top series have been listed as:

In popular culture

As the long-time home of the Belgian Grand Prix and its location within the Ardennes forests, it has been a popular backdrop for all kinds of fictional media, from appearances in comics and motion pictures, to regular appearances in video games going back into the 1980s.

Tour de France

The circuit has been used several times in the Tour de France cycling race. In 1980, the circuit was part of an individual time trial stage, won by Bernard Hinault (); while in 1989, several laps of the circuit were completed before the finish of the third stage, which was won by 's Raúl Alcalá. In 2017, the circuit was used as part of the third stage, starting in Verviers, Belgium and ending in Longwy, France.

Climate

The area of Spa-Francorchamps is often rainy or having cool air temperatures, which has led to Formula One events such as the 1998 14-car pileup on a waterlogged track and the finish to the 2008 event, when rain fell during the last few laps after an all-dry race. The Royal Meteorological Institute runs weather stations both in Stavelot and in Malmedy, which both show similar oceanic climates with some interior influence.

Although temperatures generally often stay above freezing in winter, snowfall is quite common. During summer, temperatures most often remain in the low 20s, with frequent cloud cover and showers. With the World Endurance race running in spring and the Formula One race in late summer, hot temperatures during high-profile events are rare. Even so, the annual warmest temperature averages above 31 C. The official Spa weather station is located at a similar elevation as the race track a few miles north, and yields similar conditions to the Stavelot and Malmedy stations. Summer May nights may get rather chilly, but stay above frost during the prime season for the circuit.

|Jan record high C = 14.5 |Feb record high C = 19.5 |Mar record high C = 23.1 |Apr record high C = 26.3 |May record high C = 30.0 |Jun record high C = 31.8 |Jul record high C = 36.7 |Aug record high C = 35.0 |Sep record high C = 30.9 |Oct record high C = 24.1 |Nov record high C = 19.5 |Dec record high C = 17.0 |year record high C = 36.7 |Jan avg record high C = 9.8 |Feb avg record high C = 11.6 |Mar avg record high C = 16.2 |Apr avg record high C = 21.1 |May avg record high C = 24.8 |Jun avg record high C = 28.1 |Jul avg record high C = 29.5 |Aug avg record high C = 29.4 |Sep avg record high C = 24.2 |Oct avg record high C = 19.7 |Nov avg record high C = 14.5 |Dec avg record high C = 10.3 |year avg record high C = 31.6 |Jan avg record low C = -8.4 |Feb avg record low C = -8.3 |Mar avg record low C = -4.9 |Apr avg record low C = -2.2 |May avg record low C = 0.7 |Jun avg record low C = 4.8 |Jul avg record low C = 7.4 |Aug avg record low C = 7.4 |Sep avg record low C = 5.0 |Oct avg record low C = 0.9 |Nov avg record low C = -3.1 |Dec avg record low C = -6.2 |year avg record low C = -11.0 |Jan record low C = -20.0 |Feb record low C = -21.1 |Mar record low C = -13.7 |Apr record low C = -9.6 |May record low C = -3.5 |Jun record low C = 0.0 |Jul record low C = 1.4 |Aug record low C = 1.0 |Sep record low C = 1.0 |Oct record low C = -6.2 |Nov record low C = -9.0 |Dec record low C = -17.8 |year record low C = -21.1

|Jan record high C = |Feb record high C = |Mar record high C = |Apr record high C = |May record high C = |Jun record high C = |Jul record high C = |Aug record high C = |Sep record high C = |Oct record high C = |Nov record high C = |Dec record high C = |year record high C = |Jan record low C = |Feb record low C = |Mar record low C = |Apr record low C = |May record low C = |Jun record low C = |Jul record low C = |Aug record low C = |Sep record low C = |Oct record low C = |Nov record low C = |Dec record low C = |year record low C =

|Jan record high C = |Feb record high C = |Mar record high C = |Apr record high C = |May record high C = |Jun record high C = |Jul record high C = |Aug record high C = |Sep record high C = |Oct record high C = |Nov record high C = |Dec record high C = |year record high C = |Jan record low C = |Feb record low C = |Mar record low C = |Apr record low C = |May record low C = |Jun record low C = |Jul record low C = |Aug record low C = |Sep record low C = |Oct record low C = |Nov record low C = |Dec record low C = |year record low C =

Notes

References

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