2017 "Walloon Animals" Belgian Grand Prix

[Ataxia]

It might come as a surprise that Belgium actually exists; for years, it was presumed to be some bit of land that neither France nor the Netherlands actually wanted, but it turns out that the inhabitants bought into that idea to create a mish-mash of the two.

But seriously, what IS Belgium?

Belgium was invented in 1914 as a space for European nations to settle their conflicts, and has thrived ever since - it now hosts the European Parliament, a space created for European nations to settle their...you get the idea.

The nation of Belgium has two official languages, which is two more than the majority of the British population can manage. Wallonia, the French bit, speaks French (DUHHHH) while Flanders (the Dutch bit) speaks Flemish, which is essentially Dutch but with 50% more catarrh.


"Feels like I'm wearing...nothing at all! Nothing at all! NOTHING AT ALL!"

Belgium is known for its culinary exploits and produces world-famous chocolate and frites. They also do fantastic waffles, the world's first grid-based food product. Less revered is the Brussels sprout, and the much-maligned cabbage-imitator is known to creep into the Christmas dinners of multiple households across the world.


They're waffly versatile.

In the world of Formula 1, Belgium has enjoyed limited success as a nation. Jacky Ickx was arguably the most successful driver from the Franco-Dutch nation, and since then has only been able to produce drivers with food-based nicknames; Bertrand "Bertie Breadstick" Baguette was close to a Renault drive in 2010, before Jerome "Custard" d'Ambrosio ended up at the Marussia Virgin Manor Marussia Racing team the year after.
Currently, Stoffel "The Flying Waffle" Vandoorne plies his trade in F1, racing with famed penalty-collectors McLaren.


He's Stoffely versatile.

The Belgian Grand Prix takes place at Spa-Francorchamps, with the famous Eau Rouge corner. Except that bit's not Eau Rouge, it's actually called Raidillon. I don't know which bit, but one of the bits. Spa-Francorchamps is the longest circuit on the current calendar, although it used to be longer; in the 1950s and 60s, the circuit encompassed the entirety of Belgian public roads, as well as a small stint in Luxembourg.


Jacques attacks the tyre wall, eight years before attacking the worlds' eardrums.

This is your 100% correct and accurate guide to the nation of Belgium. Prepare for the race with some Belgian beer, and by smothering your chips in mayonnaise and mussels. Don't do it in McDonald's though, you'll get thrown out.

[dinizintheoven]

Did someone say something about Belgian beer, chips and mussels?

[AdrianBelmonte_]

Spa-Francorchamps is the longest circuit on the current calendar, although it used to be longer; in the 1950s and 60s, the circuit encompassed the entirety of Belgian public roads, as well as a small stint in Luxembourg.

That explains why Plastic Bertrand represented Luxembourg in the Made-In-Belgium 1987 ESC...

[CoopsII]

Belgium was invented in 1914 as a space for European nations to settle their conflicts,

So Belgium's basically an early version of Babylon 5?

Cool.

[AndreaModa]

Did someone say something about Belgian beer, chips and mussels?

Is that Ypres?

Incidentally, I will be making the journey to Spa this year, having confirmed to myself that is in fact cheaper to drive from Bristol, pick up three mates, take the ferry to Calais and drive to Spa, camp for 4 nights, enjoy three days of Bronze general admission and drive home again for less than £250 each and much less than an equivalent weekend at Silverstone. Marvellous.

If you're able to catch the race on TV, try and spot a Finnish flag with 'Bwoah' on it and a Danish flag with 'Suck my balls'. And my Marussia flag too of course.

[tommykl]

Did someone say something about Belgian beer, chips and mussels?

Is that Ypres?

Incidentally, I will be making the journey to Spa this year, having confirmed to myself that is in fact cheaper to drive from Bristol, pick up three mates, take the ferry to Calais and drive to Spa, camp for 4 nights, enjoy three days of Bronze general admission and drive home again for less than £250 each and much less than an equivalent weekend at Silverstone. Marvellous.

If you're able to catch the race on TV, try and spot a Finnish flag with 'Bwoah' on it and a Danish flag with 'Suck my balls'. And my Marussia flag too of course.

I welcome you to this fine nation in which I currently reside!

I would also like to complain about Ataxia's guide to Belgium, which is horribly wrong. Flemish has at least 70% more catarrh than typical Dutch, and not all Belgian public roads were used in the old Spa circuit. In fact, an inconspicuous stretch of road on the outskirts of Tubize was omitted.

[girry]

I am here merely to point out a pressing deficiency concerning Thierry Boutsen's part for he has not obtained a food-based nickname thus far. "The Speedy Sprout"?

[tommykl]

I am here merely to point out a pressing deficiency concerning Thierry Boutsen's part for he has not obtained a food-based nickname thus far. "The Speedy Sprout"?

Thierry Sproutsen.

[Miguel98]

In less Belgian related news, I'm cute curious to see how Raikkonen will perform here. Despite this being more of a Mercedes track than a Ferrari track, we know how good Kimi can be around Spa, and considering the form he's been showing for the last couple of events, I wouldn't be surprised if Raikkonen was the main Ferrari contending for victory this weekend.

[mario]

Belgium was invented in 1914 as a space for European nations to settle their conflicts,

So Belgium's basically an early version of Babylon 5?

Cool.

Well, it's slightly inaccurate - the independent Kingdom of Belgium was created in 1830 through the London Convention, and there are some who consider that Belgium was effectively created by the other powers in Europe to stop France gaining hold of the port of Antwerp.

[CoopsII]

Belgium was invented in 1914 as a space for European nations to settle their conflicts,

So Belgium's basically an early version of Babylon 5?

Cool.

Well, it's slightly inaccurate - the independent Kingdom of Belgium was created in 1830 through the London Convention, and there are some who consider that Belgium was effectively created by the other powers in Europe to stop France gaining hold of the port of Antwerp.

Yeah, equally had Babylon 4 not been taken through time to be a base of operations for the Minbari there may never have been the need for the fifth and final Babylon station.

[dinizintheoven]

Did someone say something about Belgian beer, chips and mussels?

Is that Ypres?

Bruges, both times (or Brugge, if you have some chips stuck in your throat). Though I did go to Ypres (or Ieper, if you still have chips stuck in your throat) in 2014, when it was exactly 100 years since the day we started firing shots at Klon and his allies from some deep trenches, and there were lots of very old men in various military uniforms shuffling around that day. I hadn't planned that, it's that I caught Five Live announcing it on the way through Belgium, which I could still pick up that far off our shores.

[AndreaModa]

Did someone say something about Belgian beer, chips and mussels?

Is that Ypres?

Bruges, both times (or Brugge, if you have some chips stuck in your throat). Though I did go to Ypres (or Ieper, if you still have chips stuck in your throat) in 2014, when it was exactly 100 years since the day we started firing shots at Klon and his allies from some deep trenches, and there were lots of very old men in various military uniforms shuffling around that day. I hadn't planned that, it's that I caught Five Live announcing it on the way through Belgium, which I could still pick up that far off our shores.

Ah fair enough, I've been to both too. Lovely places!

[WeirdKerr]

I have been at the Belgian Grand Prix..... 22 years ago in 1995 as part of my 21st birthday present I did one of those organised tour things with a weekend in Brussels and sunday at the race

[CoopsII]

Incidentally, I will be making the journey to Spa this year, having confirmed to myself that is in fact cheaper to drive from Bristol, pick up three mates, take the ferry to Calais and drive to Spa, camp for 4 nights, enjoy three days of Bronze general admission and drive home again for less than £250 each and much less than an equivalent weekend at Silverstone.

Says it all about Silverstone and the UK, don't it? Spa's a better event anyway.

[WeirdKerr]

Incidentally, I will be making the journey to Spa this year, having confirmed to myself that is in fact cheaper to drive from Bristol, pick up three mates, take the ferry to Calais and drive to Spa, camp for 4 nights, enjoy three days of Bronze general admission and drive home again for less than £250 each and much less than an equivalent weekend at Silverstone.

Says it all about Silverstone and the UK, don't it? Spa's a better event anyway.

I went to spa in 1995 and would love to go back, in fact I may do it next year using flights from Inverness(my nearest "International"* airport)to Amsterdam, hiring a car or van driving to near Spa....

(if you can call an airport which has flights to 2 airports outside your country international)

[Nessafox]

*whispers silently* german speaking part

[Enforcer]

Good start to the weekend for Williams...

[good_Ralf]

A bit underwhelming how after all that, we more or less have the same grid order that we're used to seeing this year. How frustrating for Kimi to once again fall at the final hurdle

[mario]

A bit underwhelming how after all that, we more or less have the same grid order that we're used to seeing this year. How frustrating for Kimi to once again fall at the final hurdle

Though it sounds as if Vettel was rather pleased given that Kimi helped him in the final sector with a fairly healthy slipsteam, which seems to explain why Vettel suddenly found several tenths in S3 on his final lap and nipped ahead of Bottas.

It's a broadly similar grid, but I do feel sorry for Palmer though - given how he was consistently quicker than Hulkenberg (not just in qualifying - he's generally been faster throughout this weekend), he'd have had a pretty comfortable 7th if he'd been able to set a lap and just matched his Q2 time.

[CoopsII]

A real shame for Palmer today.

Did I hear right that Mick Schumacher will be driving the B194 tomorrow? What a lovely but weird moment for the lad. It's a pity the old man can't be there to watch (mind you he'd probably want a turn himself) but I hope he's capable of watching the footage at some point.

[yannicksamlad]

Totally agree; I am not a Palmer fan, but felt so sorry for him. And yes: hearing about Mick in the B194 again made me really want to know how Michael is doing. Is it wrong to keep wanting to know? Probably not. And it is not wrong for the family to keep it private.
But...I'd like to know...

[dr-baker]

Totally agree; I am not a Palmer fan, but felt so sorry for him. And yes: hearing about Mick in the B194 again made me really want to know how Michael is doing. Is it wrong to keep wanting to know? Probably not. And it is not wrong for the family to keep it private.
But...I'd like to know...

I imagine that the experience may provoke particular emotions for Mick. I hope that he has the emotional support that he requires for this. After all, it is also the weekend that Lewis equals his dad's pole record at a track his dad specialised at.

[Londoner]

Just when you thought the Honda clown show couldn't top itself, it turns out Alonso went so fast during qualifying that his Honda engine got confused.

Yeah, I got nothing.

[Enforcer]

McLaren in passing someone in a straight line shocker.

EDIT: Oh no wait, regular service resumed.

They seem to be able to follow each other through Eau Rouge & Radillion pretty handily.

[Enforcer]

Force India have done it again. They even had a practice attempt on lap 1 before doing it right later.

Rosberg/Hamilton, Lauda/Hunt, Prost/Senna. Nothing on Ocon/Perez.

[Barbazza]

Force India have done it again. They even had a practice attempt on lap 1 before doing it right later.

Rosberg/Hamilton, Lauda/Hunt, Prost/Senna. Nothing on Ocon/Perez.

What was particularly odd about their nonsensical display was that in the post-race interviews, Perez claimed responsibility for the first one when he was well within his rights not to given that he was also worrying about Hulkenberg to his left. Yet he said the second one was Ocon's fault when he clearly squeezed him towards the wall.

[CoopsII]

I though the race was average and for once I felt the TV race director did a pretty good job of improving a slightly dull show. I felt there were a few more onboard camera sections of cars blasting though L'eau rouge, for example, than there has been in recent years (I may be imagining that, though). Max props to the Dutch fans for the orange smoke, I bloody loved that, just a pity Max properly had smoke of his own coming out of the car before the end.

[yannicksamlad]

.

They seem to be able to follow each other through Eau Rouge & Radillion pretty handily.

Does this simply reflect how glued down they are these days? Are those really just kinks in the straight these days once your tyres reach temperature? I wonder ... Certainly they're spectacular pieces of track , and the drivers have to find the line , but really if its easy flat then a loss of a bit of front downforce isnt an issue.

Meanwhile in F2 Matsushita demonstrated how tricky it can be in that area when you havent got the downforce. In fact F2 cars looked truly quite edgy through there .

[mario]

I though the race was average and for once I felt the TV race director did a pretty good job of improving a slightly dull show. I felt there were a few more onboard camera sections of cars blasting though L'eau rouge, for example, than there has been in recent years (I may be imagining that, though). Max props to the Dutch fans for the orange smoke, I bloody loved that, just a pity Max properly had smoke of his own coming out of the car before the end.

By the sounds of things, the only smoke coming from Max might have been from his ears given that his car shut down because of an automatic cut off feature Renault have introduced after their earlier engine failures.

Max's engine automatically shut itself down in the race because it detected high pressures in one of the cylinders - however, when they returned the car back to the pits, it turned out that they could immediately fire the car back up again - which hardly improved Max's mood when he saw that. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vers ... ce-946565/

[Enforcer]

Force India have done it again. They even had a practice attempt on lap 1 before doing it right later.

Rosberg/Hamilton, Lauda/Hunt, Prost/Senna. Nothing on Ocon/Perez.

What was particularly odd about their nonsensical display was that in the post-race interviews, Perez claimed responsibility for the first one when he was well within his rights not to given that he was also worrying about Hulkenberg to his left. Yet he said the second one was Ocon's fault when he clearly squeezed him towards the wall.

I can only guess that Perez held his hand up over the first one because Ocon had a fair amount of overlap alongside him vs. barely having front wing alongside on the second one. But the first one, as you say, he was worrying about the Hulk on the other side and it was genuine accidental contact, wheras the second one he deliberately tried to squeeze Ocon out.

It's made all the sillier for me because I don't think Ocon could've passed him there even if he had been left room. Could be wrong, but I don't think Ocon would've been alongside enough at Eau Rouge to be able to take the inside up Radillion afterwards.

[AndreaModa]

So, I had a fun time at the GP. As you probably have read, it was a record attendance, and it certainly felt like it during the weekend. God knows what the race was like before Verstappen came along, but he and all the Dutch fans he brings along make the whole thing all the more better. Brilliant atmosphere, much more fun than the British GP which comes across as pretty serious and straight-laced in comparison. I don't think you'll find a brass band in orange dungarees performing at 11pm in the Silverstone campsites!

Quick review of the general facilities, etc: Don't go if you like your home comforts. If you're happy to sh*t in the dark in well-used portaloos with your own toilet paper and not wash your hands afterwards then you'll be fine. The stewarding/policing was pretty lax, and when they did get involved, it was heavy handed and a bit unnecessary. Having only experienced Silverstone's stewarding myself, I can say that the British GP is much better in this regard. Case in point was the pit walk at Spa which was massively busy obviously. If you have trouble getting about, there's a lot of muddy paths which after a bit of rain get very interesting. A good example from Saturday morning:
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/6x5c4r/this_dutch_fan_on_a_slippery_spafrancorchamps_is/

Personally I don't mind basic facilities, but I know a lot of people do. It certainly didn't detract from the weekend for me. The fact you have to 'rough' it a bit made it more enjoyable!

As for what I got up to, the pit walk was rammed but managed to see quite a few faces, almost got my programme signed by Vettel, but went one better right at the end by getting Wehrlein to sign it once he'd finished talking to Frederic Vasseur. Chuffed with that. Spent Friday walking most of the track, viewing around Rivage, the unnamed corner, Pouhon, Fagnes and the Kemmel Straight. Saturday was spent mostly around Rivage and the unnamed corner (I was informed it might actually be called Liege?) and Sunday we sat in a similar place after queuing from 3:30am with approx 10 people in front of us in the queue. With the weather as good as it was (the only rain was on Friday afternoon and evening) I think we were very lucky, but it made it pretty straightforward and very enjoyable. Definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't been yet, and make sure you go while Verstappen is still in F1 for the added atmosphere.

Also, try and get to Stavelot for the Spa museum there. Some nice little exhibits (F1, sportscars, bikes and more) which killed some time for us on the Monday before the ferry in the evening.

Took plenty of photos while I was there. Once I have them on Flickr I'll put some in the photography thread.

[mario]

Brilliant atmosphere, much more fun than the British GP which comes across as pretty serious and straight-laced in comparison. I don't think you'll find a brass band in orange dungarees performing at 11pm in the Silverstone campsites!

Well, I suppose that not everybody might necessarily be thrilled of the thought of being next to a brass band playing their instruments late at night...

[dinizintheoven]

Quick review of the general facilities, etc: Don't go if you like your home comforts. If you're happy to sh*t in the dark in well-used portaloos with your own toilet paper and not wash your hands afterwards then you'll be fine.

17 years of metal festivals on the continent has taught me a lot: bring a torch, alcoholic hand gel, and two types of khazi roll. Luxury! According to the four Yorkshiremen, anyway.

[AndreaModa]

Brilliant atmosphere, much more fun than the British GP which comes across as pretty serious and straight-laced in comparison. I don't think you'll find a brass band in orange dungarees performing at 11pm in the Silverstone campsites!

Well, I suppose that not everybody might necessarily be thrilled of the thought of being next to a brass band playing their instruments late at night...

That would have been the least of your worries! The generators and music didn't stop until 3am some nights!