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Eau Rouge: Fantasy or nightmare?
The Belgian circuit of Spa-Francorchamps is one of the truly original, characteristic, and testing circuits on the Formula 1 calendar. Set high up in the Eiffel Mountains, where weather conditions can change by the hour, the undulating circuit offers one of motorsports most difficult corners - Eau Rouge.
HOW IT LOOKS TO A DRIVER - RENAULT'S JENSON BUTTON
I will approach at 300 kph in 6th and will still be accelerating through the first part, as it is flat at around 305 kph. The right-hand part is the one everybody wants to take flat, but even in qualifying last year, this was not quite possible and I will probably lift to around 60% throttle and therefore lose a couple of kph. Nevertheless, I will be pulling about 4.7g through this corner.
Eau Rouge is a technically difficult corner, pulling the driver from side to side under enormous amounts of speed and sideways G-force. Only a handful of drivers tend to take it flat out over a grand prix weekend - and Juan Pablo Montoya is one of them. "Spa is definitely one of my favourite tracks," he said. "Of course Eau Rouge is a true test! I did take it flat three or four times last year."
However, taking Eau Rouge flat out means that the car has to avoid bottoming
out on the first left hander and for this the car has to be set higher then normal - set-up that ultimately causes the driver to lose time over the remainder of the lap. "In order to be quick around the whole lap, it's impossible to take Eau Rouge flat," says Toyota's Mika Salo. "To stop the car from bottoming out at the foot of Eau Rouge, you have to raise the ride- height, which would make the car less efficient around the rest of the lap."
Willy Rampf, Sauber's Technical Director, believes that if the car is perfect then only the best drivers can get it right. "It is the most demanding corner in racing and requires complete commitment from the driver, and perfect behavior from the car," he said. "The problem it poses is not just the fact that it is taken flat-out in top gear by the best drivers, but that the car bottoms out as it reaches the lowest part of the corner."
There are however some drivers who simply don't rate it - such as Williams'
Ralf Schumacher. "The once popular Eau Rouge corner has lost a bit of its glamour," he said. "Today you can drive it without any concern, as the cars remain stable. There are certainly other corners in F1 that raise my heartbeat higher."
Eau Rouge has certainly seen its fair share of accidents over the years and last years terrifying accident involving Prost's Luciano Burti is certainly one of the most memorable. The Brazilian clipped the Jaguar of Eddie Irvine on the exit of the final corner, forcing his front wing under the front of the car which consequently disabling his steering abilities. The car ploughed across the grass at a speed of about 300kmh before ploughing into the tyre wall.
Irvine, who also left the track in a series of spins, was able to reach the scene
rapidly and began burrowing into the tyres in an attempt to locate the buried Burti. The race was stopped and several minutes passed before the destroyed chassis was pulled from the tyre wall - Burti remained motionless for a while longer before spending several days in hospital with neck injuries. He has never raced since and is now a test driver with Ferrari.
Professionally speaking, Eau Rouge is a corner that shouldn't be taken flat out,
but if you are a driver with ambition, then keeping you foot to the floorboards remains a high priority.
EUROSPORT.COM
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