What F1 teams do well at Belgian Grand Prix with Ferrari and McLaren successful at Spa

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The Belgian Grand Prix debuted on the Formula 1 calendar in 1950 amid the inaugural season with a raft of teams taking repeat wins since, so here are the most successful.

F1 secured the naming rights for the Belgian Grand Prix for its first season in 1950. The race had operated for a mixture of championships before Formula 1 made its debut visit to Spa-Francorchamps. It has solely been an F1 race ever since and eight teams have multiple wins.

Alfa Romeo were also not just the first Formula 1 team to win the Belgian GP but the first to take multiple victories. The Italian brand took Juan Manuel Fangio to the top step of the first podium at Spa in 1950, before seeing Giuseppe Farina return Alfa Romeo to the top in 1951.

Alfa Romeo won the first Belgian GP with Juan Manuel Fangio in 1950

After Alfa Romeo kicked off the Belgian Grand Prix’s time as a Formula 1 round with back-to-back wins, another Italian giant even did the double as Ferrari secured successive wins with Alberto Ascari. Yet it took to 1962 and 1963 for another team to win sequential trips to Spa.

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This time Lotus made the Ardennes circuit their playground as Jim Clark won four in a row to become one of the most successful Formula 1 drivers at the Belgian Grand Prix yet. No team would repeat that dominance until Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna gave McLaren five in a row.

Prost kicked off McLaren’s dominance in 1987 before Senna matched Clark’s earlier record run. Further dominant periods have followed for McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes in F1’s visits since. But no team has yet eclipsed McLaren’s run of five Belgian GP wins in a row.

Ferrari are the most successful F1 team at the Belgian Grand Prix

Ferrari, though, are the most successful Formula 1 team at the Belgian Grand Prix of all time yet. The Scuderia have taken victories around Spa and during F1’s visits to Zolder. They did not win at Nivelles-Baulers over F1’s two visits to the circuit near Brussels in the early 1970s.

Ferrari are the most successful Formula 1 team at the Belgian GP around Spa

Having only won four Belgian Grand Prix away from Spa, Ferrari are also the most successful Formula 1 team at the Ardennes circuit. Niki Lauda in 1975 and 1976 plus Jody Scheckter in 1979 and Michele Alboreto in 1984 sealed the Scuderia their other four wins around Zolder.

Lotus through Gunnar Nilsson in 1977 and Mario Andretti in 1978 also won twice at Zolder, where Tyrrell (1973), Ligier (1980), Williams (1981) and McLaren (1982) also won once. F1 further saw Lotus win in 1972 and McLaren in 1974 across the two Belgian GP at Nivelles.

Ferrari are the most successful engine manufacturer at the Belgian GP

As Ferrari have only used engines that the Maranello natives have built since 1955 – the one time that the Scuderia have ever used a different manufacturer’s engine – the team also are Formula 1’s most successful power unit provider at the Belgian Grand Prix yet with 18 wins.

Mercedes engines have also tasted lots of success at the Belgian GP, however, thanks to the Silver Arrows’ time in partnership with McLaren. Ford has also seen lots of engines using its name win the Belgian GP from the automotive giant’s previous partnership with Cosworth.

Honda, too, has had plenty of success as a Formula 1 engine manufacturer at the Belgian GP. The Japanese brand has also seen its V6 turbo hybrid power unit win multiple times around Spa badged as a Red Bull Powertrains unit in recent years but they were still Honda engines.