Lotus relishing the technical challenge of Spa

Nestling deep in the Ardennes forest, Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most beautiful circuits on the calendar. But how does it look to an engineer?

Ahead of this year's Belgian Grand Prix, Lotus F1 Team's technical director Nick Chester sat down to consider exactly what the long sweeping curves and huge elevation changes at the 4.352-mile (7km), 20-turn circuit meant when it was analysed from an engineer's point of view.

"It’s a stunning track," said Chester, starting off sounding very bit as emotionally caught up in the allure of one of Formula One's most iconic venues as any wide-eyed fan before quickly getting down to business.

"It’s a great mixture of high-speed corners that are challenging for the drivers, as well as slower corners, elevation and some good straights as well. It’s a vast track and the unpredictable weather that comes with it often makes it a brilliant race."

"It’s a circuit that has to be approached differently to other tracks, which is great. Aside from achieving the best compromise between downforce and straight-line speed, there are a few other aspects of the circuit that present a nice challenge.

"The famous Eau Rouge, for example, requires respect when setting ride heights for the car. You don’t want to get it wrong through there. It all keeps our engineers nicely busy."

Best of all as far as Chester is concerned, it's a track that should suit the Lotus this year: "It’s a strong power track and we have a strong power unit. We have fairly low drag on the E23 so I believe we should be in a reasonable position."

Surprisingly, Chester said that the length of the circuit isn't a particularly important or interesting factor in the team's calculations, at least from an engineering point of view.

"It’s not a factor when setting up the car. It can have an effect on strategy; although the greater factor there tends to be the type of tyres we have for the Grand Prix.

"You do have to approach the sessions different, however," he added. "You tend to run fewer laps, so it makes it a bit more difficult to get setup work done.

"It’s the same for everyone though and we manage our programme carefully as always to ensure we can achieve as much as possible in the time that we have."

However the length - it's by some way the longest circuit on the modern Formula One calendar - does mean there is even more variability in the characteristics of different parts of the circuit, almost to the point of making it three different courses.

"There’s a significant variance between the first and third sectors - where it’s not beneficial to run high downforce thanks to the long straights - and the middle sector, which is a mix of high and medium speed corners where more downforce is needed.

"It’s a real balancing act between taking wing off to ensure we are quick on the straights and managing the car through the corners where it could easily feel too light due to a lack of downforce. It can make it a little bit difficult to get the best out of the car there.

"But that’s the challenge for Spa, and it always makes it interesting from a set-up point of view."

Catch up with F1i's breakfast date with Lotus F1's deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi

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