After a four-week summer break, Formula 1 is back in Belgium. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit hosts the paddock for the 14th Grand Prix of the season, from August 26 to 28. A difficult track with complex turns that have often been talked about for their dangerousness. Former Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul talks to Franceinfo: sport about the security challenges facing F1 today.
Franceinfo: sport: the Spa-Francorchamps circuit offers a route as spectacular as it is dangerous. What’s so special about it?
Cyril Abiteboul: It’s a historic circuit, which transmits a lot of passion and emotion, where the victories are great and other more dramatic moments. The track is long, with a lot of elevation, it is also a Grand Prix which marks the return after the summer break, so there is a certain excitement, which gives intensity. It’s a great place to come back to after the break, everyone is eager to measure themselves against the track, a challenging circuit, subject to the vagaries of the weather.
One of F1’s all-time iconic venues ❤️
What’s your favorite Spa memory?#BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/GTtkfW3YVo
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 21, 2022
Is it also one of the toughest and most demanding circuits of the season?
The circuit includes mythical bends, such as Eau Rouge, which are real challenges in terms of settings and trajectories, with little visibility, which also brings danger. During my Renault years, I have the bruised memory of Anthoine Hubert’s accident in 2019, still with these visibility problems at the exit of certain turns. [le jeune pilote de Formule 2, membre de l’Académie Renault, avait subi un violent accident mortel à la sortie du virage rapide du Raidillon]. At Spa, a driver must be on his path and keep it, and when this is not the case, there can be serious accidents.
Precisely, modifications have been made around the famous Raidillon, one of the mythical bends of the circuit, to guarantee a little more safety….
The run-off areas have been enlarged and moved forward to try to protect cars running off the track. But that does not necessarily help to preserve collisions between two single-seaters. In this regard, safety has evolved enormously in Formula 1 in recent seasons, with the appearance of the halo, lateral safety structures. This year, we have a new generation of single-seaters which take into account the lessons of the latest accidents and serious crashes, and which are moving towards ever greater safety.
This 2022 edition is particularly awaited, after the aborted race of 2021. The decision not to launch the pilots under the storm, a year ago, shows that safety issues are increasingly taken into account ?
Formula 1 today must be exemplary in terms of safety. This is a question that must be addressed and discussed, even if all hazards cannot necessarily be anticipated or managed. You have to find a balance between the ideal car for the search for performance, and the elements that you add for safety. Today, the cars are also heavier because they have all the passive safety elements to protect the drivers. This is also the case with everyday cars. For Formula 1 to become the benchmark global platform for motorsport, and to maintain this position, it must be exemplary in matters of safety, which have made enormous progress.