Fresh from their commendable finish in the recent Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Team SAUBER PETRONAS heads to the ‘supremely challenging’ Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix, the 16th and last European round of the 2005 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

With a highly technical track layout and demanding corners, Spa requires high downforce with minimum drag and would enable a driver to commit almost blindly to chicanes and corners like La Source, Eau Rouge, Raidillon and Blanchimont. As it is, this pure drivers’ track is hard on the engines and tires, so there will be much emphasis on how much the new one-engine, one-tire ruling will affect the cars especially within the final 10 laps of the race.

Technical Director Willy Rampf explains how this weekend is extremely challenging: “Spa-Francorchamps is a supreme challenge, both for the drivers and for the engineers. Its wide variety of high- medium- and slow-speed corners makes it a favourite that requires some careful set-up work if a car is to produce its optimum performance.

“As an indication of its extremes, you have the La Source hairpin which begins the lap. The drivers go through this at little less than 70 kmh. But then you have a fast downhill section that leads to the famed Eau Rouge corkscrew climb, which is one of the world’s most demanding corners.

“If everything is working perfectly it might just be possible for a driver to negotiate this challenge flat-out in top gear, but in doing so he must cope not only with lateral forces as he has to change direction at very high speed, but also compression forces as the car bottoms out under full load in the middle of the corner as it begins its climb up to Raidillon.

“Eau Rouge demands total commitment from the driver, and a finely balanced chassis. If Eau Rouge is flat out, then the engine experiences a full throttle period of over 20 seconds from the exit of the hairpin until braking for Turn 5 – along with Indianapolis the longest of the season.

“Then there are other corners, such as Blanchimont on the run to the end of the lap, which is taken at more than 300 kmh. It will be interesting to see what effect the 2005 regulations have had on aerodynamic performance here.”

“The track is quite easy on the brakes, but the tyres are submitted to very high loads due to the high speed nature of some corners and tyre degradation is important. Spa is also known for its changing weather conditions, therefore the outcome of the race is less predictable than anywhere else.”

Last year, Sauber PETRONAS ended their best ever finish in a race when Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella came home in fourth and fifth places respectively. In the incident packed Belgian Grand Prix, both cars made contact after the first corner drama and lost a lot of time re-pitting. Despite this however, both drivers soldiered on and with clever pit stop strategy, the team was rewarded with their strongest finish yet in Spa. Hope to see the same this year.