Formule 1 : le Grand Prix de Belgique prolongé jusqu’en 2025
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Le promoteur de la Formule 1 doit annoncer aujourd’hui la prolongation du Grand Prix de Belgique jusqu’en 2025.

Translation:

Great news for F1 fans! Max Verstappen and his gang will still be passing through Francorchamps in 2025. The Formula 1 promoter is due to make it official later today, Wednesday. A promoter who has decided to play less on the nerves of the Belgian Grand Prix organizers…

Remember: in 2022, it was only on Sunday morning, a few hours before the start of the Grand Prix, that the contract was extended for a further year. And this year, it was at the beginning of July, just three weeks before the 2023 edition (brought forward to the end of July), that we learned that lovers of the Ardennes toboggan would return to their favorite show in 2024. The date has even been set: July 28, 2024.

This time, it’s almost two years before the deadline that the small Spa Grand Prix team will be able to mobilize to prepare the next two editions of the Belgian GP in the best possible way. The date of the 2025 GP is not yet known. This calendar will not be finalized for another year or so.That said, things are unlikely to change dramatically, and we can expect the last weekend in July to be chosen once again.

At the end of September, Spa Grand Prix announced figures for the 2023 edition of the Belgian GP. These figures were much more favorable than those traditionally recorded, which were usually between 6 and 8 million euros in deficit. This time, the financial year closed with a loss of 3.2 million euros (exactly 3,198,890).

This was mainly due to an increase in capacity to 110,000 spectators per day, compared with 100,000 in previous years. And a substantial increase in the price of grandstand tickets, coveted by an increasingly enthusiastic public. By the end of this year’s event, the organizers had already announced that a new attendance record had been reached, with 380,000 people registered for the entire weekend.

This success encouraged the Walloon Region to extend its support for one of Belgium’s most popular events of the year. “I’m delighted with these very good results, which I hope will make it possible to perpetuate the place of a Grand Prix in Spa, particularly in 2025”, declared Willy Borsus, the Walloon Minister for the Economy. He then instructed the promoters of the Belgian Grand Prix to convince the Formula 1 promoters to extend the lease with Francorchamps. And clearly, they found the right words, since F1 will be coming to Belgium for the next two years. At least!

  • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
    221·
    1 year ago

    Spa should be getting the 10 year deal that’s been handed to all these desert despots of late

  • Tvkan@feddit.de
    64·
    1 year ago

    People rightfully pointed out the safety issues in Qatar, but are happy to disregard them for a classic track.

    Spa delivers great racing, but we’ve also seen two fatalities in the last few years (Hubert and van 't Hoff), and multiple close calls like Norris being flung across the track in 2019.

    While Eau Rouge/Raidillon is probably the most exciting corner on the F1 calendar, van 't Hoff’s death in july has shown that it still isn’t as safe as it needs to be. While this decision is certainly also (or mostly) driven by financial motives, having the chance to reevaluate the track’s safety in a few years is imho a good thing.

    Spa is amazing and I want it to stay, but it’s not more important than the health and safety of the drivers.

    • Sentau@feddit.de
      1·
      1 year ago

      Both the Norris and van 't Hoff accidents can be attributed to poor race direction as much as track characteristics. Yes spa is dangerous (more than other tracks) and if those type of accidents had happened at other tracks, van 't Hoff would not have died (may he rest in peace) but they are making efforts to improve the track to make it safer. In the initial aftermath of van 't Hoff’s death, I too was calling for spa to dropped and evaluated, but the more I saw the accident, the more I realise that the race should not have been taking place at all in those conditions. The accident too happened at the start of the kennel straight after the the eau roudge radillion complex.

      On a side note, I don’t think the Qatar track is inherently dangerous just the kerbs which are problematic and which can be easily fixed. Weather wise, sepang was equally brutal but people love that track.

    • qdJzXuisAndVQb2@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      You’re not wrong. Exciting racing does not need to entail increased danger, but severing that link is expensive and difficult.