Ricciardo relishes ‘very historic’ Belgian GP venue

Daniel Ricciardo says he always enjoys retuning to the ‘very historic’ Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, which plays host to this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, especially since the Red Bull F1 ace won there in 2014.

That year, the Australian had taken advantage of Mercedes rivals Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg colliding early in the race to secure his third win of the season.

Ricciardo was also on course for a strong result in the Ardennes last year until he had to retire with a mechanical problem.

“Spa is cool and the track is amazing,” the 27-year-old said. “It’s very historic, fast and flowing. I had a win there two years ago so it has always been a good track to return to for me. I think it’s funny how spread out the circuit at Spa is, on one side you can have sun while it rains on the other.

“You always get a lot of regular fans there, you see them year after year so it’s nice to see real F1 fans out there.”

Most local fans will be supporting Ricciardo’s Dutch team-mate Max Verstappen, who had a cracking race for Toro Rosso at Spa 12 months ago, recovering from 18th to eighth at the flag.

“Going into Spa it should be a great weekend, there will be a lot of Belgian and also Dutch fans,” said F1's youngest race winner. “They are all coming to one of the most famous tracks on the calendar and from the driver’s point of view one of the favourites also.

“I had a really good weekend there last year so hopefully we can have an even better result this year.”

Spa-Francorchamps featured on the inaugural F1 world championship calendar back in 1950.

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