F1 | Belgian GP, ​​a "legendary" hat-trick begins for Ferrari

In recent years the Belgian Grand Prix has always been the first race after the summer break. Teams and drivers returned after recharging their batteries and preparing for the final events in Europe before the season finale in Asia, America and the Middle East. In this anomalous 2020, the Belgian race comes after just a week's break from the Spanish Grand Prix and opens the hat-trick of races on legendary tracks that will lead up to Scuderia Ferrari's 1000th Grand Prix in Formula 1. The race takes place in the legendary Spa-Francorchamps , one of the most beautiful tracks in the world, which have made the history of the category and which has hosted 52 of the 64 editions of the Belgian Grand Prix held so far (on ten occasions it was raced in Zolder, on two in Nivelles-Baulers, at the gates of Brussels). Scuderia Ferrari has won on 18 occasions, the last of which was last year, when Charles Leclerc won his first victory in Formula 1 on a weekend marred by the terrible accident in the Formula 2 race between Anthoine Hubert and Juan Manuel Correa in which the young Frenchman lost his life and the American was seriously injured.

First 1000. For the Maranello team, Sunday's race will be the 998th in history, but already in Belgium Ferrari will be able to celebrate the first milestone of the 1000 Grands Prix held. In fact, many of them will have run the engines of the Prancing Horse which on two occasions were in the race even without the Italian team's cars being on the track. The first dates back to the 1960 United States Grand Prix: the Scuderia renounced the long and costly trip since the championship had already expressed its verdicts and the team was concentrated on the car to field in 1961, the year in which the regulations would change to radical way and which therefore required an even greater effort from the builders. At the start of that race, held at Riverside, however, there was the Ferrari-powered Cooper T51 of Fred Ambruster's team which had chosen Pete Lovely as its driver. The American came eleventh. The other solo race by a Maranello engine dates back to 1966, when the two 312 F1s prepared for Lorenzo Bandini and Mike Parkes were unable to reach Great Britain and take part in the Grand Prix due to a metalworkers' strike in Italy. However, there was the Ferrari-powered Cooper T73 of the Pearce Engineering team who had entrusted the car to Chris Lawrence. He also came eleventh.

Single track. Spa-Francorchamps is one of the classic tracks par excellence, on which the driver can still make the difference. The first braking point, at the La Source hairpin, is already challenging. The single-seaters decelerate by over 200 km/h, going from around 285 to 80 km/h. The curve, thanks to the wide escape route, allows for different trajectories and leads into one of the iconic sections of the track, Eau Rouge-Raidillon, a very difficult uphill S that leads onto the long Kemmel straight, the scene of many spectacular overtaking. At the end of the straight you enter S Les Combes, with the most violent braking on the track. From here you descend towards the Brussels hairpin and then arrive at Pouhon, a fast left-hand bend which subjects the riders to very high stress. At Stavelot there is the final braking: from then on we continue to accelerate up to Blanchimont and then to the Bus Stop chicane which leads to the finish line.
Ferrari stats

GPs held 997
Seasons in F1 71
Debut Monaco 1950 (Alberto Ascari 2nd; Raymond Sommer 4th; Luigi Villoresi ret.)
Wins 238 (23,87%)
Pole position 228 (22,87%)
Fastest laps 254 (25,48%)
Podiums 772 (77.43%)

FERRARI STATS BELGIAN GP
GPs held 63
Debut 1950 (Alberto Ascari 5th; Luigi Villoresi 6th)
Wins 18 (28,57%)
Pole position 14 (22,22%)
Fastest laps 19 (30,16%)
Total podiums 48 (76,19%)

FERRARI ENGINES STATS
GPs held 999
Seasons in F1 71
Debut 1950 (Alberto Ascari 2nd; Raymond Sommer 4th; Luigi Villoresi ret.)
Wins 239 (23,92%)
Pole position 229 (22,92%)
Fastest laps 260 (26,02%)
Total podiums 778 (77,88%)

Belgian Grand Prix: numbers and curiosities

2 – The municipalities crossed by the Spa-Francorchamps circuit: Stavelot, of which Francorchamps is a fraction, and Malmedy. Curiously, Spa, which is also in the official name of the circuit, has no longer been involved in the development of the track since the facility reopened in 1980 after a major renovation. The old track was over 14 km long and had legendary curves such as the esse Masta, defined by Jackie Stewart as "by far the most difficult in the world", or the Burnenville, in which the cars whizzed between two groups of houses that stood right in middle of the fold. The new 7 km track was obtained by creating a link road through the woods, with splendid curves such as Pouhon or Stavelot, which join the initial and final part of the original track, between Les Combes and the current turn 16, dedicated to Paul Frere, which leads to Blanchimont and the Bus Stop.

4 – The Ferraris in the first four places in the standings in the 1961 edition of the Belgian Grand Prix, the only manufacturer to have achieved the feat on this track. In that season, in which the Scuderia won both the Drivers' title with Phil Hill and the Constructors' title, it was Hill who won ahead of Wolfgang von Trips, Richie Ginther and Olivier Gendebien, the home driver whose 156 F1 was painted yellow, the Belgian national colour, since the local Ferrari importer, the former Formula 1 driver Jacques Swaters, had contributed to the costs of his car.

13 – The cars involved in the crash at the start of the 1998 edition of the Belgian Grand Prix. Fortunately, no one was hurt (only Rubens Barrichello withdrew due to a blow to the right arm). That still remains the accident with the most cars damaged in the history of Formula 1 and also the one with the highest amount of damage on an economic level. At least at the time the regulations still allowed a third car ready in the garage, the so-called mule, and so, almost an hour later, only four drivers were unable to start on the second attempt.

20 – Belgian drivers to have contested at least one Grand Prix in Formula 1. Nine of these also competed with Ferrari. The most successful in history remains Jacky Ickx with eight successes, six of these at the wheel of Scuderia cars, out of 114 races run. With the 312B the Brussels-born driver was second in the best season of his career, 1970. The only other Belgian to have won races in the Formula 1 World Championship is also the one who has contested the most: Thierry Boutsen, in Formula 1 since 1983 to 1993, who can boast three victories out of 163 Grands Prix, all at the wheel of Williams.

21 – The years of Charles Leclerc when last year he won his first Formula 1 Grand Prix in Belgium. The Monegasque thus became the youngest Ferrari driver to have achieved success in the World Championship. With the encore granted a week later, in Monza, Charles would also become the youngest driver in history to win two consecutive races in the top automotive category.