F1 drivers love Spa-Francorchamps

Take a straw poll of the Formula One paddock and the chances are that, regardless of their nationality, most of the 24 drivers on the grid will rank Spa-Francorchamps among their favourite race circuits on the calendar.The drivers wax lyrical about the track's nuances, much like an art critic would a priceless Picasso or Monet, and it's telling that its corners and straights are as famous as some of the drivers to have won there. La Source, Les Combes, Pauhon and Blanchimont roll off the tongue but it is the Eau Rouge combination that is reserved for special praise by most; a part of the circuit that drivers tackle at 300kph, essentially at full tilt - as they'll do tomorrow for the Belgian Grand Prix. The 1997 world champion, Jacques Villeneuve, once said the trick to mastering the uphill section was to do so flat out, as the greater the speed, the greater the downforce created by the downhill-uphill compression. It was Villeneuve's father, Gilles, who was arguably responsible for Spa returning to modern-day F1. In 1972, the circuit was considered too perilous for drivers but that changed following the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, where Villeneuve Sr crashed in qualifying and lost his life. Since then, the race moved back to Spa (except for 1984) and has been virtually ever-present on the calendar.While neither Villeneuve won there, F1 at Spa summons up a variety of notable past winners ranging from Juan Manuel Fangio, the victor of the first of 43 Belgian Grands Prix held there, in 1950, to last year's winner, Lewis Hamilton. In the intervening years, Ayrton Senna stood on the top step of the podium five times, Kimi Raikkonen four and Damon Hill three, but all are comfortably trumped by Michael Schumacher, who boasts six victories at the circuit.If there is one track on the 2011 calendar synonymous with Schumacher's past domination of F1 it is Spa and, regardless of how he fares this weekend, it will always be his favourite circuit. "Spa has always been my number one racetrack since my debut," says the seven-time world champion. It was here that he made his F1 debut at race 11 of the 1991 season driving for Jordan.In a stunning first track outing, he qualified seventh, sandwiched between the Benettons of Nelson Piquet and Roberto Moreno. The dream debut, though, failed to materialise when he suffered clutch failure on the start-finish line and he was forced to retire. The reality is that, two decades since his F1 debut, Schumacher is not likely to add a seventh Spa win driving for the mid-pack Mercedes GP outfit; not that he is concerned. "It's a race I always look forward to on the calendar, even more so having had a few weeks off for the summer break," he says. "It's a track where it always feels like you learn something more, learn to tackle it better, to improve almost. But whatever happens this weekend, it won't affect my memories of the place." Understandable, looking at his record. His first grand prix win came at Spa a year after his debut there. In 2001, he broke Alain Prost's record of 51 grands prix wins when he triumphed around the course and clinched a seventh drivers' crown there three years later, after finishing second behind race winner Kimi Raikkonen.As for his favourite Spa outing, he is not clear. "They are all special, even when I don't win," he says. "But maybe the first win here as it was the first of my career, which any driver will tell you is particularly special."At the peak of his powers, there was a predictability to Schumacher's result at Spa. Not so the most recent victor there, Hamilton, whose surprising procession-like victory there 12 months ago was a far cry from a few of his previous Spa outings. In his championship-winning year in 2008, he celebrated victory on the winner's podium only to be later docked 25 seconds for cutting a chicane to pass Raikkonen, which denied him the win and dropped him to third overall. From / The National