What to watch for in Spa-Francorchamps

The FIA Formula 2 campaign returns for Round 9 at The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, but what should you be watching out for this weekend?

We’re back!

After a four-week break, racing finally returns in Spa-Francorchamps and with it, a more intense focus on points as we enter the business end of the season. The drivers will be refreshed from their break, but face a busy restart.

Rounds 9 and 10, in Belgium and Italy, follow each other on back-to-back weekends, during a period which could give the strongest indication yet as to how the title race will play out.

Exciting young talent Marino Sato has been confirmed to join the rostrum at Campos too and his development will be exciting to watch, having dominated the Euroformula Open Championship, with eight wins and 10 podiums.

Crunch time

A mere 30 points separate the Championship’s top two going into the final four rounds of the season and whoever sets the tone in Spa, following the summer break, could give themselves the edge come the curtain closer in Abu Dhabi.

Nyck de Vries currently tops the table, and has done since Le Castellet, but Nicholas Latifi enjoyed a fruitful Round 8 in Budapest and his renewed confidence could play a significant part in how this weekend plays out.

However, if De Vries can continue his record of at least a podium a weekend since Baku, he will remain in the driving seat – things are very much in his hands, as it stands.

Both will gain further confidence from their performances in Belgium last year, where De Vries won the Feature Race, and Latifi the Sprint.

More to come?

Few drivers will have gone into the summer break as satisfied at Mick Schumacher, who picked up his maiden F2 win in the Budapest Sprint Race with a commanding drive, where he held off Nobuharu Matsushita, having started on reverse pole.

The task now facing the young German will be to make this the start of a successful run in the Championship, rather than a one-off. The 20-year-old is another who will gain confidence from his performances in Belgium last year, when he earned his first win in European F3, which kick-started a run of seven further victories, on his way to the title.

If he can carry on his success from Round 8, then Schumacher can set himself up for a strong finish to 2019.

Rookie reaction

The Championship’s two most successful rookies didn’t enjoy the most productive of rounds in Budapest last time out, picking up just two points between them, and they’ll be keen to rectify this.

Guanyu Zhou managed just a point in each race, while Anthoine Hubert failed to take a top ten finish – a rarity between them this season. They still lead fellow rookie Schumacher in the standings - despite his race win in Budapest - and will be fighting it out with the German to be named rookie champion at the end of the season.

Hubert has the race wins under his belt, but Zhou has been the more consistent of the two across the season and will be confident of retaining his loftier placing come December– and, he may even fancy his chances of moving up the table in the coming weeks.

Overtaking opportunities

The longest and one of the most loved tracks on the Formula 2 calendar, Spa offers extensive straights, high-speed corners and plenty of opportunity to overtake. Corners like Eau Rouge and Raidillon are iconic and amongst the most famous in the world.

As well as the intensity and speed of many of the corners, there are also plenty of places to overtake, of which the Kemmel straight is perhaps the most obvious, which goes into the Les Combes chicane. Another area to watch for is Blanchimont – a dauntingly quick left-hander - leading towards another chicane at the end of the lap.

And, as always with F2, you will see moves made where you least expect them.