By Joe Murphy
The future of the Belgian Grand Prix is in serious doubt, with Spa’s contract expiring after the upcoming event at the end of August. Whilst it is set to be the next race in this current 2022 campaign, there are no guarantees F1 will head back to the venue next year.
Check out some other articles whilst you are here, including – https://wheel2wheelreports.com/2022/08/13/monaco-dropped-from-race-calendar-green-f1-and-more/ and https://wheel2wheelreports.com/2022/08/13/hamilton-retirement-to-start-domino-effect-as-schumacher-and-ricciardo-futures-in-doubt/
The track is undoubtedly most of the most historic and distinct venues on the race calendar, and is a favourite of many fans and drivers alike. However, there is fresh doubt over it’s long term future with additions such as Qatar and Las Vegas potentially meaning there is no room for circuits such as Spa.
In the eyes of many, this would be a terrible decision. One with such a view is former World Champion, Jenson Button. This week, he made it clear that he thinks F1 must be careful amid a period of uncertainty regarding the future of the Belgian race:
“If Spa isn’t there I’ll be very upset,” the Brit argued. “Monaco is a tricky one because there’s lots going on behind the scenes. But if you take away Spa, it’s for other reasons, not because it’s not a good circuit. It’s one of the best in the world, the racing’s amazing, the drivers love it and the teams love going there. We have to be a little bit careful. We know Formula 1 is entertainment and a certain TV show [Drive to Survive on Netflix] has made it very famous in America, which is great for the sport. But we need to make sure we keep the racing exciting and going to circuits that give us great racing because you’re going to see happy drivers. You’re going to get a lot more out of them if they’re in a good place, not thinking ‘why are we at this track? It’s not fun, we can’t overtake, it’s too narrow. I like the mix of having street circuits and old school tracks, but we can’t be going to all city centres, and just going there because of the location. It needs to be because of the track itself and the country it’s in too because that’s how you get the fanbase. And having a fun race to watch on TV, with lots of fighting, is important too.”
Like seen with venues such as Silverstone in recent years, there is hope an agreement between all parties can be reached. All we know for sure is that the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix will definitely take place, in just under a fortnight’s time.
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