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Raikkonen keen to return to 'old, traditional' Spa

It's hard to find a driver in the Formula One paddock who isn't a fan of the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, and while he's often known as one of the more contrary drivers on the grid Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen is no exception to the rule.

“It’s an old, traditional circuit, with up and down hills," said the Finn. "That’s what is different, more than other circuits, even just the place itself in the middle of nowhere.

"They've slightly changed the last chicane in the past years, but I enjoy it," he added. "On TV it’s hard to say, but when you’re there you can see it’s quite steep.

"Conditions can be tricky sometimes, but it’s usually good for overtaking and that’s nice for drivers and spectators."

The well-known Ardennes microclimate means that the weather is always one of the big talking points at Spa. While storms are a possibility on Saturday, the race itself is looking set for warm and sunny conditions conditions but Ferrari are taking nothing for granted.

“It is very challenging from a meteorological point of view,” admitted Sebastian Vettel’s race engineer Riccardo Adami.

"The weather is challenging: in the past, I remember having found a part of the circuit with the sun shining and the other part with rain. So, it’s important to be sharp in the strategy and tyres."

Raikkonen is a four-time winner at Spa, most recently with Ferrari in 2009, and he clearly knows a few tips and tricks about how to succeed on this circuit which includes one of the most famous corners in the whole of motorsport.

"The most important corner of this track is Eau Rouge," Adami agreed. "At least it was supposed to be in the past, because it’s close to be taken flat out. It is one of the highest compression in terms of vertical load and vertical acceleration, reaching 4Gs.

"It’s very demanding for the driver because he finds himself through this corner which is so peculiar for the compression. So, he goes down and up without breathing."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.