A fan perspective: Attending the Belgium Grand Prix

Last race weekend I had the privilege of attending the Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps for my first ever Grand Prix, it was an experience I'll never forget.

With only 1% of fans ever making it to a GP, Spa-Francorchamps is one to try to get too.

VENUE

The Formula one calander has a vast range of tracks in multiple locations across the Globe. However, Spa-Francorchamps is a track unlike any other.

With so much historic racing events (not just F1) being displayed most of the year, why is it such a popular racing venue?

Built in August of 1921, this track has had plenty of time to establish itself and smooth over any faults.

Racing has been commencing here since 1925 and I see why this track is still so popular (in all racing categories).

The venue and track is the longest on the Formula One calender, surounding a gorgeous forest in Belgium.

It's a track unlike any other on the F1 Calendar. Its scenery surrounding the track looks like a painting, unpredictable weather (usually rain at some stage) that ups the drama in a race and technically challenging corners (even the straights too) entices fans to attend a race weekend at this event.

And how can you forget the glorious up hill terrain that is Eau Rouge, where drivers have to be brave enough to launch their car up and over that daring hill...

This track really does have it all!

Stepping away from the racing aspect, there was always music pumping throughout the venue and plenty of places to get food and (most importantly) Beer!

Along with live music events for fans daily and live interviews with the drivers on stage!

I managed to catch Carlos Sainz, Charles leclerc , George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

GETTING THERE

Being from and living in Belfast, I needed to first make way to London to catch the EuroStar into Belguim.

Getting to Belguim was fairly simple and being on the Eurostar was beginning to set up my excitement for the Grand Prix weekend as I could see numerous different types of race merchandise wore by dedicated fans.

As we were starting our journey off in England, most fans wore Lando Norris / McLaren merch or signature Lewis Hamilton Mercedes gear (suprisingly not many George Russell numbers about).

My mum on the other hand decided to be decked out in Ayrton Senna clothing, who was her favourite driver during the time she begun her journey into F1.

It had been 31 years since my mum was last at Spa-Francorchamps (or any Grand Prix for that matter) and she was excited to see if it was still the same.

Me on the other hand had no experience of attending Grand Prix's. My mother was the expert on this one, with going her experience at tracks in Monza, Monaco, Silverstone and Spa.

We decided to go with a travel agent to this track, as my mum recommended that it was fair easier to do it that way than to plan everything on our own.

She'd been there, done that and wanted this trip to go smoothly. Especially since transport to and from the track can get a tad bit difficult.

With our travel agent we could choose different hotels around Brussels to stay at. Which I think is a great idea if you want to save on price.

Of course closer to the track is more expensive! We decided to stay about two and a halve hours out from the track in a place called Sablon, which was a gorgeous part of Brussels that I'd love to revisit!

Getting to and from the track was also pretty simple due to coach transfers already being agranged by our travel agent. I expected to be stuck in traffic getting in and out of the track (especially on race day) but surprisingly it wasn't too bad!

The most amount of time my coach was stand still was for about two hours, and for a race day where 380,000 people trying to get of the track all at once. I think it's a decent time.

Although I do feel bad for the people who's cars got completely beached in the muddy car park after the up and down weather of the weekend.

That's the last thing you want after a day where you are on your feet all day.

Overall, in terms of transport I really have no fault to find. It was perfect, the track was organised to control people to go out different exits and filter traffic.

It was also helpful that our travel agent arranged coaches to come at different times of the day so we could leave when earlier if we needed (although who would want to go early from this spectular race track!).

PRICE

The price of Grand Prix were never cheap but especially with the sudden rise of popularity in Formula one over the past couple years the price has sky rocketed.

I was lucky enough to get seats at the iconic Eau Rouge. Where the view was just insane and the ticket not cheap.

Yes expensive, especially as I was there for two days, but to get grandstand seats like these are the type of prices fans pay.

General admission is of course cheaper but for my first GP I wanted to sit at the top of Eau Rouge as I believe this may be my only chance at this track ever.

From speaking to other fans, many still enjoyed the general admission tickets. It was difficult to get a hold of grand stand tickets even if you did have the money for them.

So i'm glad that others at the Grand Prix still had a good time not in the Grand Stands.

However, you need to come prepared if you're not taking a grand stand seat. The usual Spa weather is never predictable so its best to bring camping chairs incase rain turns your seat in the grass to mud.

FANS

One of the main things I was looking forward to being around was the fans. Like most F1 fans I never really had anyone to discuss the sport with (unless it was my mother), so to see hundreds of people be just as excited as me was a thrilling thing to experience.

I even spoke to those working for the travel agency i went with. I was curious to wonder how they've seen the sport evolve and change since 'Drive to Survive' hit our TV screens.

One spoke on how they've been in doing these trips for travel agencies for over 20 years. He spoke on how the audience for F1 has gotten more diverse for age specifically.

Which I definitely saw over the weekend, from young children, to teens, to elderly, this Grand Prix had everyone.

Hearing the buzz and chatter from fans, this GP had people from everywhere! In my grand stand we seemed to have a lot of mexican and spanish fans who came to support Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz (not a good race for Carlos Sainz fans..)

On my coach ride to and from the track i sat beside a group of South Africans who where Max Verstappen fans.

The reason i knew this as for half the bus ride they played the well known Max tune 'Super Max' on repeat until they fell asleep.

Some may find this annoying but i thought this was quite fun. They seemed to be in great spirits (and a bit tipsy)!!

Although the crowd was mainly Verstappen fans, there was no name calling or bullying that ive heard from other Grand Prixs.

I was glad to see fans getting on so well as after the recent drama of the 2021 season with Hamilton vs Verstappen.

FACILITIES

I have no complaints to the facilities at this track. Before attending this race a friend of mine attended the Hungarian Grand Prix that occurred a week before Spa.

He informed me of just how terrible the facilities where, from no water or food being allowed in, hardly any water refills and over crowding.

I was worried that Spa would be the same but i couldn't be more wrong. Toliets were clean, plently of room for fans to move about to avoid overcrowding (even space for wheelchair access) and plenty of water refill stations.

Of course with every Formula One event queues are long for paid food but there's only so much that can be done to avoid that.

The clearly sign posted sections made it easier for me and other fans to see where our grandstands, food and toilets where. as well as lots of track personnel about to answer any questions or concerns.

All around the track had plenty of security too, so it felt safe to be there and of anything was to happen i knew someone would be there to help me.

THE GP

I was lucky that the Belgium GP was chosen to be one of the six sprint races this year! Who can complain about extra racing!

Weather at Spa is known to be unpredicable due to the areas own micro climate. It was entertaining to see different areas of the track get rain, or hear broadcasters announce that rain hadn't started to fall while i've got my poncho on.

As I was sitting at the top of Eau Rouge, Any rain that came I felt ...

But Spirits amongst fans were never lost no matter the weather. My grandstand would cheer, clap, dance and even do the ocassional mexican wave.

From practice, the sprint, qualifying and race day I loved every-minute of it. Yes the GP itself may not have been the most interesting of races yet.

But the whole atmosphere and event itself was still worth it.

I also enjoyed the other race categories that raced throughout the weekend. I myself have watched the lower categories of F1.

My mother and brother who joined me to this GP had not.

They both really enjoyed watching the action of these two categories as most people seem to skip over them.

They both will defiantly be watching the other categories now.

I love watching the lower categories as you can see how hard they are racing to prove themselves worthy of an F1 seat.

Amongst this hard racing, you also get to see rookie mistakes and how they learn and progress throughout the season.

I even managed to get Arthur Leclerc's spin off while fighting for position with Roy Nissany in the F2 race!

For me it was my first time watching the Porsche supermobil cup ! It was interesting to see different types of cars fly round this stunning track.

I loved seeing how these cars handled round corners and overtaking down the straights.

I'm always interested in new catogories of motorsport, but it can be hard at first to delve into them.

So to attend a race and to see it live makes it far easier to have interest in these different genres of motorsport. As long as they go fast, i'm interested.

MY OVERALL THOUGHTS

I loved attending Spa and I'm upset that it's all over. I've practically been in a mini depression since leaving, which is propably why i've been putting off writing this article.

I 100% recommend this Grand Prix for all ages! It's family friendly and has a lot going on at the track, faculties are clean and have plenty of access for those physically disabled.

I believe it's a perfect first returning GP for anyone and couldn't recommend it more.

Make sure if you're wanting to go for 2024 to get your tickets quick! As at this track, all events sell out quickly.