Belgian GP preview: Survival of the quickest

Once upon a time, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit was both feared and despised by some of the greatest drivers F1 has ever seen.

Its relentless high speeds, petulant weather and unforgiving surroundings cost dozens of lives and, in 1966, Jackie Stewart’s life very nearly ended in an upside-down BRM, which had cannoned off a telegraph pole then a cottage before trapping the Scot and soaking him in fuel.

Stewart (pictured) was freed from his stricken car 25 long minutes later – by two other drivers who had also spun off, one of whom had himself overturned.

Earlier, in practice, his fellow Scot Jim Clark had been negotiating Eau Rouge at 130mph when he had to swerve to avoid a road car which had appeared on the track. This was not a circuit for the faint-hearted.

Spa was, in the 1970s, dropped from the F1 calendar, to return more than a decade later in a much truncated form. It was safer but retained the essence of what had always made it such a captivating circuit – high speeds and challenging corners.

And so this weekend, as F1 returns from its long summer break, fans are looking forward to one of the most popular races of the year – and so are the drivers. What should you look out for?

It’s all about Lewis

If, as seems likely, Lewis Hamilton (pictured) takes a grid penalty for replacing elements of his power unit, the scene will be set for an epic fightback.

We know his Mercedes can power past most of the field but, when it gets to the front-runners, it will be difficult to get close enough to overtake because of how the Merc behaves in turbulent air.

Losing downforce through Eau Rouge, at 185mph, is something even a driver of Hamilton’s capabilities would be nervous about.

So he’ll either be hoping for a safety car, or trying to do something special with tyre strategy or… just hanging it out there.

Hamilton has known for some time that his early-season mechanical woes doomed him to take a grid penalty eventually, and so any points he salvages from the weekend will seem like a bonus.

But, for his team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg, anything other than a win will be nothing short of a disaster.

So, expect to see Rosberg on pole and then role the dice to see what happens at that tricky first hairpin. It could decide the title race.

It’s all about high-speed corners

Eau Rouge/Raidillon; Pouhon; Blanchimont. Spa has no shortage of kinks and corners that are taken flat-out or as near as damn flat-out.

At this circuit, getting the downforce right is particularly important – too much, and you’ll lose valuable speed on both the long straights and the entry to the high-speed corners; too little, and you’ll be toast in the curvy bits, particularly sector two.

From a spectator’s point of view, this race is one of the best chances you’ll get to see how F1 cars really perform in high-speed corners.

Eau Rouge (pictured) may no longer be the most challenging part of the circuit for drivers but the cars’ rapid changes of direction, coupled with the topography of the complex – drivers are pushed down into their cars with a force of 1.7g as they drop down and then climb up towards Raidillon – mean this remains one of the great spectacles in F1.

It’s all about the new kids

For once, we’re not talking about Max Verstappen. Manor have brought in French 19-year-old Esteban Ocon (pictured) to replace Rio Haryanto, after the Indonesian failed to honour his contractual obligations.

Ocon goes head-to-head with 21-year-old team-mate Pascal Wehrlein, who has scored Manor’s only point this season.

Both youngsters are being nurtured by Mercedes, and Merc boss Toto Wolff has said he will be watching their progress closely.

He won’t be the only one. Inevitably, comparisons are being drawn with the changes earlier this year at Red Bull, where finishing on the podium wasn’t enough to stop 22-year-old Daniil Kvyat being demoted and replaced by 18-year-old Verstappen.

It’s a brutal old world, the world of F1, and Ocon may find that, career-wise, he has landed himself in a fight to the death with his young colleague.

Who’d be a child prodigy in F1 these days?