🇧🇪 Spa MUST change after another fatal crash 

Both of those fatal crashes are t-bone related. T-bone crashes on formula cars in general had a high fatality rate due to the shape of the nose structures that concentrated the impact into a small area. I remember many engineers said it’s virtually impossible to make the cars any safer from t-been crashes unless they change the fundamental design of the formula cars.

DO NOT change SPA.

This was not because of Spa. It was because the race was green flagged when there was no visibility. There's numerous tracks that have similarly dangerous corners. This is the race director's fault, not Spa's.

F1: “Cars must have extreme aerodynamics. The tracks must be safe enough so no one gets injured or the layout will be altered. Isle of Man TT: “Don’t die (optional)

"Journalism" like this will cancel the whole sport.

… It’s now 2052 and accelerating has been banned by the FIA

Martin Brundle: “If you’re not prepared to get injured or potentially die before you get in the car, you have no business being in one”

"top tier motor racing should be slower" said no race driver ever

he never even touched the barriers, he spun on track after contact with another car far upp the kemmel straight, it was after the kink. it was simmilar conditions to those in 2021 when the race was cancelled so my two questions are, why is the race trying to blame spa as a track? and why was the race not red flagged?

Um, what? The crash had nothing to do with Spa's layout, and was simply poor visibility caused by rain and walls next to straights. About half the tracks on the F1 calendar (including all street tracks) have this but worse. Yes, we should talk about track safety, but not when it wasn't actually at fault.

You are not qualified to determine if runoff or corner changes are required. There are many other potential solutions to safety issues and these are engineering problems to solve, not some web journalist.

Race directors should be banned held accountable for sending the drivers in horrendous conditions, disgusting.

It’s not spa that is the main issue, it’s the horrifically wet conditions they were racing in, visibility and the nature of such an impact. Open wheel cars need to look on how to improve visibility in the wet to start.

No way man, Spa should never change. It’s the FIA that should listen to drivers when they say it’s not safe to drive. Postpone if necessary otherwise but your video suggesting or demanding that spa is the problem is wrong.

Racing is inherently dangerous. You can’t race in a padded room. Every driver knows this.

The best way to reduce the chance of fatal accidents is to race virtually, near a hospital.

I think the first question to ask is why the f did they drive in those conditions?

The latest crash was caused by the horrific weather. Spinning in the wet would have happened on other fast tracks too. So should we forbid every fast track?

Nothing "needs to change" - injury/loss of life is a part of high risk sports. If you don't like it, become a kindergarten teacher.

The maker of this video has no idea of what is racing, end of story

Didnt the accident happen on the straight after Eau Rouge/Raidillon? What would a layout change do? Are they gonna make chicanes every 50m then? The problem was the conditions, not Spa. Those conditions on any track would be a risk.

The crash happened in heavy rain. That is not the fault of the track. It IS the fault of race management. That race should have been stopped. End of argument.

A combined weightless lifting of the car going over the crest, wet conditions and high speed cornering make it extremely dangerous

I'm glad you're not in control of the track layout or safety

The barriers still make the cars bounce back to the track after a crash. They need to be changed so if a car crashes it is sent further away from the track and not towards it.

Please don’t make a campaign to get red of this beautiful circuit that has just undergone major safety improvements, but rather invest in barriers that avoid cars from bouncing back on the track! My deepest condolences to the families.

Put up a bigass screen at the crest of the hill showing what is going on in the blind spot.

This video is hugely disrespectful to the family of Dilano, given that the accident had nothing to do with track design. The organisers should be held to account if anyone, it shouldn’t have been green flagged.

Hubert died partially because instead of slowing down when the crash occured everybody tried to full steam past the accident in action via run off and the track, resulting in chaos and thus poor visibility to avoid still in motion car. Drivers also need to take the responsibility to avoid crashes and not opportunisticly full throttle by the accident. Nigel Mansell told in a podcast that younger drivers are too accustomed to walk away from 300kph crashes that they don't have the respect for the danger.

As a former motorcycle road racer at national level, Motorsport competitors know there is a calculated risk of injury or death. It is expensive, and we are not forced to race. We do it because we love it. We love it because of places like Spa, Phillip Island, Algarve, Brands Hatch and Hockenheimring. My understanding is that this crash happened in a heavy downpour. Maybe the decision to halt racing due to treacherous (like our politicians) conditions should’ve been made. The circuit needs no change.

100% agreed if it's putting lives at risk it should be changed no matter how famous it is 💯💯

Stop letting inexperienced drivers on the track. F1 have generally very experienced drivers

1) Van 'T Hoff's crash could've happened anywhere else as well, since he collided with another car in the Kemmel-straight, WELL AFTER Eau Rouge-Raidillon. That sent him spinning across the track, and because of lack of visibility, another car collected him. 2) Hubert's car only bounced back into the run-off area. Correa's car had a puncture (if I remember correctly, but something was definitely wrong with his car), that's why he T-boned him. If not for that problem of Correa's car, Hubert would be still with us. Again, not really a track-specific crash, but for argument's sake, let's say the barriers and the run-off needs to be changed. If we're suddenly so strict about safety and everything, why not revisit the case of e.g. Monaco? The only reason F1 cars are allowed to "race" there is because of historic reasons, otherwise it FAILS almost every single modern-day safety criteria.

FIA needs to take accountability in these situations. This was not a consequence of the track, it was a consequence of the conditions. The fact that the race was red flagged is where we need investigation. Nothing more.

If you said it that way just cancel the whole F1 already let's not have a motorsport race anymore no F1 no crash right

Anyone else here in 2024?

no, Spa doesnt need to change, DRIVERS need to change. Double waved yellows and flat out into the side of a crashed car... Same with both crashes. FIA need to get serious with giving points/penalties to drivers ignoring yellows.

The minute anyone says "something must be done" it means you are not arguing from logic but emotion. Take your arguments to their logical conclusion and F1 will have a speed limit of 10mph, and a foot thick rubber bumper around each car. Drivers do what they do for the excitement, the same way I chose to ride (and occasionally in the past race) motorbikes. It is tragic when a driver dies, let me say that before the usual chorus of "you don't care" mob chimes in. Life is a risk, and if you want to go into a high adrenaline sport, it involves risk. If you don't like the risk, leave. Enough other people will like it. Spa is a historic circuit partly because of the risk, every driver who has ever driven there knows that. It isn't for armchair critics to demand "something must be done". If enough DRIVERS feel that way and refuse to race there, then that is different as they are the ones undertaking the risk, so THEY get to decide what is an acceptable level of risk. I don't want a non-motorcyclist deciding that motorbikes are dangerous and should be banned. It isn't your place to call for this.

These drivers know the risks and CHOOSE to race there!

This has absolutely nothing to do with Eau Rouge, if you change it Spa I will never watch a race there again I promise you. That is one of the best corners in motorsport

The only fault was the people who didnt call a red flag. The area he drove through was completely blind because of rain being tossed up

Thats like saying Isle of Man TT should be changed or banned because people get killed. They know the risks before getting on/in their machines. If anything the run off area needs to be changed.

All I see are a bunch of hypocrites all of you. GET RID OF HALO if you guys think this is SUCH an unacceptable idea.

Ignorant journalism at its peak.

13 people have died on mount everest this year. Lets rebuild the mountain, make it lower and safer , something must be done. Spa is great, and need to stay asis. Stop inexperienced f3 and f2 driveres from racing here. Keep f1, wec, gt3 on the track as it is

This is not due to Spa the circuit but due to incompetence on the part of the race directors. The crash did not happen because of eau rouge or radillon it was well down the strait. The blame is with the incompetent race directors. The race directors should never be allowed near a track again after the decisions they made to restart this race.

"Mikey... you need to change Spa" "Toto... it's called motor racing, okay?"

Changing the layout of the track: nope def not Changing the runoff area: yep, prevent cars from bouncing back on the track so easily Doesn’t take away from the fact that single seaters will always be a high risk sport.

This tragic event was nothing to do with track layout at all, it was caused by driving in wholly unsafe conditions. Their best bet is to have an overhaul of the drainage system.

Spa isn’t the issue. It’s the stewardship at F1 weekends. Spa has had a 75 24hr races and been perfectly fine. F1 need to stop blaming everything but themselves for their poor decision making and then things will change.

In the grand scheme of crashes, it wasn't even bad. He was stationary and got hit by a car that was going ahout 80mph. That can happen at ANY track, not just spa. It's not the track that's unsafe, it's the car. All racecars should be able to take an 80mph hit. 99% of them can. I have no idea why Formula Regional cars are so unsafe.

"He got killed by the gun, not the gunner."

The track is not the main culprit it's the race directors not calling a red flag on the clearly undrivable conditions. That whole segment of track needs to be monitored every race for any signs of standing water or visibility concerns from spray. Additionally a gravel trap on the left side to bring any driver to a halt before they rebound would be nice, without needed to reshape the barriers again.

Changing Eau rouge must be treated as a act of criminality.

Its not Eau Rouge that needs to be changed its the barriers at the sides as they bounce cars back on to the track. Change the run off , solve the problem. Also the weather in that race was horrendous and should have been postponed

From eons of playing racing sims, that corner and the Laguna Seca corkscrew have consistently been the places where my car has flown off the track the most. They are just so much harder than anything else to do right. Even in VR, still super hard.

As far as I think, this sort of crash could have happened at any other track, where it is raining and you have barriers close to the track i. e. Monza…

Corners like these are made of dreams. It needs to stay. It's a corner that uses 3 axis in a dramatic way, it's beautiful.

When you step in a high speed race.. you know your life is on the line.

It was not because of the track, it was the decesion to race in rain.

Wasn't it the visibility ??

We should stop skydiving because people have died. Also stop eating because people have choked and died. Get rid of water because people drown. Let's get rid of.....

dilano's crash wasnt cuz the run-off area wasn't enough or anything. it was raining quite heavily, he spun out and another car behind him, cuz of low visibility, went and crashed into the side of dilano's car

Was watching an interview with Mario where he was reminding us that back in the day they lost a driver or two a week. Racing is dangerous.

I would analyze what conditions the crashes are happening before changing the course. There’s a lot of racing events at spa and 99% of the time there’s no major incidents, so I’m wondering if there can be changes made to what conditions are allowed and to have immediate red flags when accidents happen.

"Something must be done"? This is a dangerous sport, not the kiddie pool. Leave it alone.

simple solution, the feeder series are no longer allowed to race at Spa. the safety advancements on the formula 1 cars and the skill of the drivers makes the track much safer.

Removing spaa and that sector , is like banning the whole f1 cars , or banning the nordschleife u just can’t,

Per Alonso, it was more weather-related (visibility) than speed, so it appears that racing only in dry or drying conditions should be key.

This particular crash could sadly happen on pretty much any race track in such horrendous weather conditions. That being said, the changes made after 2019 were a disappointing half measure and didn't go far enough. We need to revisit gravel traps. It's happening now in Austria, albeit for different reasons, which is encouraging. Here, it would help in two ways: A) Gravel is way more effective than asphalt in stopping rebounding cars and preventing them from getting back onto the race track. Runoff area design has focussed too much on the first impact in the past, when in places like this it's the secondary impact that's more of a concern. B) A major issue on this part of the track is that in case of accidents, the following drivers will use the runoff to avoid the wreck while keeping their foot down. This behaviour comes with the permanent threat of top speed t-bone collisions, such as the one the killed Hubert, and it is only possible thanks to the asphalt runoff. With gravel traps there instead, drivers would quickly learn to apply their brakes again to avoid collisions. Even if secondary collisions still happened, they would be happening at lower speeds and be less likely to be fatal.

Leave spa alone. I'm sick of great tracks being ruined.

A very big issue with these young drivers is that they never ever slow down under yellow flags or when they see people go off in front of them. Hubert accident showed this when other drivers went flat out off the circuit and on the run off area - this keeps on happening with these championships

Nah this obsession with finishing under green flags by race directors needs to change. I wonder if this bad pr is being pushed by people who want their curcuit on the calander over spa.

Leave the track as it is ! Every Driver knows the risk

It's crazy how they try to cancel legendary tracks like Spa or Monaco in favour of another Miami-Lasvegas bullshit.

Run off area needs changing. Leave the corner as it is. They also need to completely overhaul the tracks drainage system.

I was racing in a historic Formula junior race in 2005. A steering arm broke at the top of Eau Rouge, and I spun into the Tyre wall. Due to the layout, the car hit the Tyre wall 'head on' except that it was the tail that hit first. My injuries included a broken back, that put me in a wheelchair. The hospital at Liege was excellent and I eventually got home to England. I contacted the Formula 1 drivers association, I think it was David Coulthard who organized an inspection of the Tyre wall layout, and the circuit did change the layout to make it safer. Motor racing IS dangerous, but circuits should do their best to reduce dangerous places. During races, I believe that experienced drivers should assist the stewards, and the clerk of the course, to make safety decisions. I think this is done occasionally, with good results.

The IOM TT has on average three deaths per race, they know the risks. Two people dying in four years is far from 'high' and it was by 'junior' racers....it's the racers that need to be looked at, not the track.

I'd put there a HUGE LED-Wall that instantly indicates if something waiting for a driver up the hill (crashed car, debry, etc.), indicatin that driver must slow down inmediately

First change Saudi Arabia, then we can talk.

This had nothing to do with the corner, this happened on the straight afterwards. A straight like many many others on many many other tracks. The problem was the condition of the weather in which the race was restarted, a restart that should not have happened.

Its not Spa's fault, this could happen at any track.

the drivers understand the risk they take every time they drive. Although unfortunate, its part of the soul of motorsport

Driving at high speeds in wet conditions is the problem not the track, when conditions are bad especially on tracks like this with fast sweeping up down corners then driver safety should be considered first and not the event, they shouldn't have been allowed to race in the first place in those conditions.

Pretty sure he was a good chunk down the straight when it happened, I keep seeing people blame the corner but it wasn’t that. It was the wet conditions. No need to change shit just stop fucking racing in the wet here. It’s simple

Never change it , we all know the risk of racing that's why we love it !

I disagree, drivers are aware of these conditions and take personal responsibility when driving. They are fully aware that they could die in a collision at height speed, they drive for the love of the sport and this happens.

This is total BS! A teenager crashes at hi speed in wet conditions and they need to change the course? How about not allowing teenagers on the course, in wet conditions?

Why do people keep talking about the corner? This crash didn't happen at Eau Rouge it happened on the Kemmel Straight. If you race in zero visibility with cars hydro planing everywhere any straight will become dangerous. It's kind of annoying seeing a racing channel with this stature spread this type of nonsense instead of talking about the actual reasons the accident occurred.

The day we lose Spa is the day I'll pinpoint THIS video to the reason.

A lot of Spa fans cant accept that Eau Rouge Raidillion is a dangerous, deadly section of track which continues to claim lives, especially in wet conditions. A sport where the drivers are safe even if they make fatal mistakes should be normalized! Wtf is with f1 fans saying that people dying is okay? People dying is never okay! These guys have families who mourn while you bitch and moan about "MUH EAU ROUGEEE 😢😢😢😢😢😢"

One response to this, it was WET. Not the track, the race was allowed to go ahead in the wet.

Or, you know, not drive when it is that wet.

I have a simple suggestion for races in wet conditions : They should put LED lights that will be activated in the rain ; if there is a yellow flag in a sector it turns yellow and red for a red flag 🚩

I cant understand why people are not noticing why cars bounce back onto the track since the gravel traps were replaced with tarmac.

Every time I think of Eau Rouge, I think of Stefan Bellof. But please, don’t change Spa!!

Dont change the SPA layout. if you fear to be racing driver you better change the carrier.

Automatic red flag: make a automatic system that notice stopped cars on the straight. If car is stopping on blind spot then automatically raise red flag.

The organisation wants to evade its responsibility of conducting a race in horrible conditions, by blaming it on the track

Crashes on one corner means drivers should be aware and no the risks.