🇧🇪Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is a 7.004 km, 19-turn motor racing circuit in the forested hills of the Belgian Ardennes between Stavelot, Malmedy and Francorchamps — widely considered the most beautiful and challenging permanent racing circuit in the world. The original layout was conceived in 1920 by Jules de Thier and Henri Langlois Van Ophem, using a 14.982 km triangle of public roads between Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot. The planned inaugural race in August 1921 was cancelled when only one driver entered, so the circuit opened in 1922 with a motorcycle event won by Belgian rider Léon Petit, and the first car race followed in 1924. In 1939, the slow uphill U-turn at Ancienne Douane (after the bottom of the Eau Rouge creek) was bypassed by a faster sweep straight up the hill — known ever since as the Raidillon. With the addition of the Stavelot banked bypass and the removal of the Malmedy chicane, the original layout reached its legendary 14.1 km full length. Following Niki Lauda's 1969 fatal accident protest, the original course was eventually abandoned for top-level competition and the modern 6.949 km permanent circuit was built in 1979 keeping the iconic Eau Rouge / Raidillon, La Source hairpin and Blanchimont sections. The circuit was further modernised in 2007 (a new bus-stop chicane and pit complex), 2022 (gravel traps at Raidillon following the 2019 death of Anthoine Hubert) and again in 2024–2025. Famous landmarks include La Source hairpin, the Eau Rouge–Raidillon combination (still taken near-flat by MotoGP-spec bikes), Les Combes, Pouhon double-apex left, Blanchimont and the final Bus Stop chicane. Spa hosts the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of Spa endurance race, the FIM EWC 24 Hours of Spa motorcycle round and historic Spa Six Hours, and is famously volatile in weather — its scale is large enough that it can rain on one part of the track while the rest stays dry.