Five unforgettable Belgian Grand Prix moments from Schumacher vs Hakkinen to a 13 car crash

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The Belgian Grand Prix has been a part of Formula 1 since the inaugural 1950 season and produced many unforgettable moments, so here are five of its most iconic races.

F1 has regularly witnessed history unfold at Spa-Francorchamps or at the previous homes of the Belgian GP. While F1 first raced in Belgium at Spa in 1950 and has solely visited the track since 1985, Nivelles-Baulers and Zolder also held the race over the 1970s and into the 80s.

Spa also remains the longest track on the Formula 1 calendar with the Belgian GP played out over 7.004 km (4.352 miles) in the Ardennes. But the circuit is just half the size of the layout F1 first utilised when the series toured the towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot.

The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was cut down from its massive 14.9 km (9.258m) layout in 1979 over safety concerns. F1 could no longer utilise the public roads passing through the Ardennes region, which are now reflected in the corner names of some of Spa’s 20 corners.

Yet either while racing around the original track or the abbreviated circuit, F1 has witnessed an array of unforgettable Belgian GP moments at Spa. So, F1 Oversteer has taken a look into five of the most iconic and truly unforgettable moments the Belgian GP has yielded at Spa…

Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna shared more than a crash at the 1987 Belgian Grand Prix

Formula 1 visited Spa for the third of the 16 rounds that made up the 1987 season. The race also delivered the second and final win that Alain Prost secured for McLaren that year after his victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix. But the top storyline to leave Spa was not Prost’s win.

Instead, the main storyline from the 1987 Belgian Grand Prix came thanks to Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna. The former started the weekend in imperious fashion by taking pole by 1.390 seconds to Nelson Piquet Sr. But Senna came from third on the grid to pose a threat.

Senna even flew straight into the lead of the Belgian GP at the second attempt to begin the race. Mansell initially had it covered before a big crash between Tyrrell teammates Philippe Streiff and Jonathan Palmer halted the race and saw the field have to take to the grid again.

Mansell was unwilling to let Senna get too far ahead, though, and sought to regain the lead on Lap 1. But the Williams and Lotus drivers tangled as Mansell shot around the outside at the Campus chicane. The contact instantly forced Senna to retire, while Mansell limped on.

But the Briton could only continue until Lap 17 before Mansell also retired from the Belgian GP owing to the damage sustained from his contact with Senna. There was further contact to follow between the pair, too, as Mansell stormed to Senna’s garage to confront his rival.

Michael Schumacher made his F1 debut at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix for Jordan

The 1991 Belgian Grand Prix saw a 22-year-old German by the name of Michael Schumacher rock Formula 1 and the rest, as they say, was history. Jordan took him from relative obscurity in sports car racing with Mercedes and saw Schumacher take seventh in qualifying on debut.

Despite Spa being one of the most respected and challenging tracks in Formula 1, he put the pinnacle of motorsport on notice straight away. But a clutch problem saw Schumacher retire yards into a race he simply wanted to finish, having not gotten carried away after qualifying.

It also proved to be the only racing moment that Schumacher contested with Jordan. Whilst talks continued about a longer-term deal with the team, the German was also negotiating a contract with Benetton and opted to sign for the Enstone team, who he joined immediately.

Schumacher would go on to win two drivers’ championships for Benetton in 1994 and 1995, as well. A move to Ferrari then followed in 1996 before further F1 titles in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 saw Schumacher become the first to win seven drivers’ championships.

The 1998 F1 Belgian GP witnessed a 13-car pile-up before Michael Schumacher confronted David Coulthard

Chaos befell Spa at the start of the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix as Formula 1 witnessed its most expensive crash ever. A whopping 13 cars collided on the run out of La Source as the field of 22 drivers exited the first corner in torrential conditions during 15 seconds of sheer carnage.

The field initially managed to take the first corner without an incident but that quickly went out of the window. David Coulthard spun out of fourth place in his McLaren after going over a drain cover. His MP4-13 violently snapped over to the inside wall and back across the road.

With parts of the Scot’s McLaren strewn over the road and the spray making it impossible to see Coulthard’s car, devastation followed with the tail-enders simply helpless to avoid piling into the wreckage. It even took nearly an hour to clear the track of all of the resulting debris.

Somehow, no driver was hurt during the crash at the start of the 1998 Belgian GP. Most also rushed back to the pits to get in their team’s spare chassis to take the restart. In the end, 18 drivers eventually resumed the race with Jordan also the only team to not take any damage.

But the drama was not over as rain continued to fall over Spa and took the total number of damaged cars to 23. Mika Hakkinen was the first to fall after spinning in his McLaren at the re-start from pole position and being collected by Johnny Herbert to see them both retire.

Coulthard was also embroiled in another incident after contact Alexander Wurz left the Scot limping home. But as the McLaren driver backed off into Pouhon to let Schumacher through, he lost sight of Coulthard in the spray and crashed into the McLaren’s rear to ruin his Ferrari.

So livid was Schumacher about the incident that he stormed down the pit lane after parking up to confront Coulthard. But a wall of McLaren engineers stopped the German from finding his rival, having believed the Scot deliberately caused the collision to aid Hakkinen’s title bid.

Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher made overtaking history at the 2000 Belgian GP

The 2000 Belgian Grand Prix produced a truly unforgettable moment as title rivals Hakkinen and Schumacher made a slice of instant Formula 1 history. Hakkinen had arrived at Spa after forging a two-point lead in the drivers’ standings and was never giving it up without a fight.

McLaren even saw the Finn totally demolish the competition in qualifying after sealing pole position for the 2000 Belgian GP by an outrageous 0.773 seconds. Schumacher could only claim P4 on the grid almost a second off the pace, but their fight went down to fine margins.

Hakkinen initially controlled the pace and relished a lead of more than 10 seconds after the Belgian GP started behind a safety car. But the track drying played into Schumacher’s hands as the Ferrari racer ate into his rival’s advantage before Hakkinen spun and gave up the lead.

Ferrari had given Schumacher a lighter fuel load than McLaren afforded Hakkinen and it let the German build his own lead exceeding 10 seconds. But the pair were soon back together after their pit stops, letting Hakkinen mount a move for the lead of his own on the 40th lap.

Schumacher had Hakkinen covered, however, as the two made slight contact at over 320kph (198mph) on the Kemmel straight. It did not deter Hakkinen, though, as the McLaren driver grabbed the lead in iconic fashion into Les Combes as they split either side of Ricardo Zonta.

The daring move down the inside of the BAR-Honda driver ultimately decided the outcome of the 2000 Belgian GP. Hakkinen withstood Schumacher’s pressure through to the finish to win by just 1.104 seconds. But Schumacher won the next four races to take that year’s title.

Lewis Hamilton lost the win at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix through a penalty

In true Spa fashion, F1 was greeted to mixed conditions for the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton lined up on pole position. But the McLaren driver only retained the lead to Lap 2 before spinning and gifting Kimi Raikkonen first after he squeezed past Felipe Massa.

Hamilton had opened a small advantage over the Finn through the first lap but went deep into La Source. His early advantage at least ensured the Briton only fell to second place and the McLaren driver was back in front of his Ferrari rival by the time they reached Eau Rouge.

But a slipstream up the hill meant Raikkonen flew through for the lead into the Les Combes chicane. It seemed likely that it would prove decisive, as well, before the rain returned and Hamilton ate into his deficit. Yet Raikkonen going defensive forced Hamilton to the run-off.

Raikkonen pushed Hamilton as deep as he could into the Bus Stop chicane after the Briton tried a move around the outside. Yet the McLaren driver emerged ahead, so backed off to let the Ferrari star through – only to then dart straight down his inside at La Source for the lead.

The increased rainfall also saw both drivers drift wide at Pouhon and Hamilton even nearly collected Nico Rosberg after the Williams pilot re-joined dangerously after a spin at Fagnes. Raikkonen only just avoided them both, too, only to then spin out of the following corner.

Hamilton made a quick escape and in his desperate quest to catch up, Raikkonen also spun at Blanchimont. The Finn lost control of his Ferrari on the wet astroturf after, again, having to avoid Rosberg. This time, his spin ended in the wall and also took Raikkonen out of the race.

But the drama was not over as while Hamilton crossed the finish line in first place to win an unforgettable Belgian GP in 2008, the stewards soon slapped him with a penalty for gaining an unfair advantage whilst racing Raikkonen during their earlier off at the Bus Stop chicane.

The brutal 25-second time penalty demoted Hamilton from the win to third place as Massa stole victory at Spa. Nick Heidfeld also rose to second place, despite finishing the Belgian GP nearly 24 seconds behind Hamilton – who went on to win the 2008 title by a point to Massa.