After the excitement of the twists and turns of the Hungaroring comes the long straights of Spa-Francorchamps. Tyres have decided many races this season and this one should be no exception. The heatwave currently settled on Northern Europe will no doubt have an adverse affect on the Goodyear rubber, but it will be interesting to see if the teams take the cautious approach or not.

A lap of Spa-Francorchamps

The Spa-Francorchamps circuit that winds its way through the Ardennes countryside is undoubtedly the most challenging circuit on the current Grand Prix calendar. As the field crosses the start/finish line, the drivers brake hard before changing down to first for the tight La Source hairpin. The track is doubly wide on the exit, so expect to see a wide variety of lines in an attempt to gain extra speed on an opponent before the run in to the fearsome Eau Rouge. Driving steeply down hill, past the old pit lane that is currently used for support races, the track twists left, hard right and uphill, then left again. Taken with only a slight lift, Eau Rouge is the key for the entire lap. If taken fast enough, the opportunity exists to outdrag an opponent along the Kemmel straight into the Les Combes chicane. A tight hairpin, Malemedy, and nearly flat left hander, Rivage, lead the drivers into the fast Pouhon double apex left hander. A brief straight, and the drivers follow the road right into the fast Les Fagnes chicane. No time to relax, as there is only another short straight before the next corner, the tough right hand Stavelot. The third gear corner leads onto the main straight, so drivers slide their car wide in a desperate attempt to get their speed up. The straight is, in fact, a series of left hand, flat-out kinks - the toughest being the particularly tight Blanchimont. A pair of fast chicanes - the Bus stop sequence - slow the cars down slightly before they return to the pit straight and start another lap of the challenging circuit.

Circuit Length: 4.333 miles / 6.947km Race length: 44 laps (190.671 miles / 306.856km)

What happened last year?

The Field

Arrows-Yamaha
The Hungarian Grand Prix was both a crushing shame and a joyous celebration for the Arrows-Yamaha team, with Damon Hill scoring their best ever result, but just failing to take their first ever win. Sadly for team and fans alike, Spa-Francorchamps will not be as good and Damon will be lucky to get into the front half of the grid. As for his team mate, Pedro Diniz, Spa is a drivers circuit and I would expect him to be close to the back. There is one chance for Arrows however, if the weather turns bad, their Bridgestone tyres should be their ace in the hole.

Rothmans Williams-Renault
Another race, another gifted win. While you have to be in it to win it, with Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard, and Damon Hill all having problems in the race, the victory was not conclusive. Of late, Williams have been looking more and more like the team who lost both titles in 1995 despite having the best car and engine combination. Of the two drivers, Heinz-Harald Frentzen appears to have a better handle on what it takes to win, chosing the setup and tyres that will work best in the race rather than those that work best in qualifying. Jacques Villeneuve does the opposite it seems and consequently looks a lot better in qualitying, but worse in the race. For Williams and Villeneuve to take the title will take a renewed effort from the team, but has the loss of Adrian Newey ruined their 1997 hopes?

Marlboro Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari arrive in Spa-Francorchamps looking good for another victory for their star signing, Michael Schumacher. The new lightweight chassis has taken the performance of the Scuderia onto an equal footing with Williams. With Michael Schumacher clearly head and shoulders above the Williams drivers, he should make short work of them on one of his favourite tracks. Eddie Irvine is still not up to the standard set by his team mate, but I would expect him to drive better now he has a contract in his pocket for next season. The only bugbear with Ferrari is with tyres. The F310b is hard on tyres and the hot weather could cause blistering very quickly. However, I would expect Schumacher to err on the side of caution and pick the harder Goodyear rubber.

Mild Seven Benetton-Renault
With their performance bouncing around like a kangaroo on a pogo-stick, it is hard to predict the future for Benetton. Spa should be a good circuit for the B197 and both drivers know it well. I would expect Berger to beat Alesi in both qualifying and the race. The tyre problems that have affected other Goodyear teams do not seem to have emerged at Benetton, so perhaps they could get to the top of the podium on Sunday.

West McLaren-Mercedes
McLaren are one of the two teams that I would expect to upset the applecart in Belgium. In 1996, both cars ran well on a one-stop strategy until things were ruined by inclement weather. With Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard looking for a good result to guarantee a place for 1998, both will be running at the maximum and it is hard to see who will be the better of the two. That said, Mika appears to be on top of his situation and generally has the better of his Scottish team mate... it's just a shame that the car never seems to make it to the end.

Benson and Hedges Total Jordan-Peugeot
Jordan are the second team that could surprise at Spa. The Peugeot is one of the most powerful engines in F1 and the chassis is great on fast circuits so their are no weak links there. Spa is a circuit that rewards bravery and confidence in a driver and both Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher have it in spades. The problem is, that neither driver has raced an F1 car here (although Ralf drove in the FIA GT race and Giancarlo has driven a touring car) and they could lead the team down a dead end very, very quickly (as was seen in Hungary). Again, Goodyear rubber could let them down, but the team are aware and usually pick the harder compound if there is any doubt. Giancarlo should beat Ralf, but if the latter is anything like his brother, watch out.

Gauloises Blondes Prost-Mugen Honda
It seems that despite the new name and corporate image, Prost is still very much Ligier and their early season promise fails to be realised. Much is expected of Jarno Trulli (perhaps unfairly) and he is beginning to disappoint and is even being beaten by Shinji Nakano. Quite what is wrong is hard to see as on paper they have a very good combination with the Prost chassis, Mugen engine and Bridgestone tyres. Whilst I fully expect Jarno to beat Shinji in qualifying, it is impossible to guess who will finish first in the race.

Red Bull Sauber-Petronas
Well Johnny Herbert has Gianni Morbidelli as a team mate again and he is still dominating him. Herbert has gone from strength to strength this season, but there is something slightly amiss with the car. Rumours suggest that Michael Schumacher may test the Sauber in order to see what can be done to improve it. Regardless, Sauber are right on the brink of joining the "Big 5" and just need the results that have been lacking recently. Herbert will beat Morbidelli, of that there is no doubt, but it will be interesting to see where he ends up.

Tyrrell-Ford
Spa (as with Hockenheim and Monza) is destined to be one of the worst races of the year for Tyrrell. The Ford v8 they use has less power than all engines but the Hart and the reliability of it is appaling. Jos Verstappen and Mika Salo make the best of what they have, but both will be hoping that if they stay, the rumours that have Tyrrell getting the second supply of v10 engines come true.

Minardi-Hart
Minardi will be backmarkers this weekend. Both drivers and chassis are good, but nothing can be done unless they can get more power from the Hart v8 engine that powers them. Ukyo Katayama should have the better of Tarso Marques this weekend as he seems to excel at the "power" tracks.

Stewart-Ford
If the Stewart team are given engines that hold together and produce the power expected of a Ford Works effort, the team had every chance of winning a race this season. Sadly, this isn't the case and Stewart are left trying to scrape whatever results are left to them. Rubens Barrichello has dominated his team mate throughout the season and rumours that see Jan Magnussen departing at the end of the season won't help the Dane very much. The Stewart doesn't seem to be able to do much on fast tracks, but with Barrichello at the wheel, who knows?

Enjoy the race...