Why Belgian Grand Prix at iconic Spa could be the worst race of the season

Following a dismal end to Silverstone, ending under the supervision of the safety car, Formula 1 is gearing up for another weekend of spills and potentially no thrills.

The British Grand Prix could have been one of the great races of the year, with what looked to be a repeat of Abu Dhabi 2021 with a one-lap shootout to settle the race.

But the FIA ruled that another lap under the safety car was needed after the cars took their formation, which meant that Charles Leclerc cruised home while Lewis Hamilton's risky tyre change move proved costly and bumped him one place down on the podium.

Moving forward, the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa is always one that provides entertainment similar to Silverstone, especially when Max Verstappen finds his form on an overtake-heavy circuit.

But despite an new announcement from the FIA to add another straight-line mode zone that will be activated around the famed Eau Rouge corner, the F1 paddock is fearful that the heavily criticised engine power management systems will make this one of the worst races of the year.

Williams, Haas and Fernando Alonso all criticise F1 engines over Spa snoozefest fears

Despite being at the back of the pack for most of the season in what looks to be one of the worst cars to take to the F1 circuit this season, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso kicked off a paddock-wide debate as he noted that Spa could expose the major flaw in the post-DRS era cars.

Earlier this week, Alonso claimed that in certain parts of the track, the cars will have less power than those driven in F2, which is a damning indictment as to how the hybrid engines are failing this year.

"If you deploy energy from Turn 1 to Turn 5, it’s over for the rest of the lap," he said.

“So you need to save a bit there to have deployment from Turn 14 to the Bus Stop. But if you deploy on those two straights, which is the optimal deployment, then there’s a full minute, the whole of Sector 2, with no deployment.”

“And without deployment, we have less power than F2. It’ll be a challenge."

Similarly struggling in the backfield are Williams and Haas, with both teams echoing Alonso's fears.

"Spa is one of the most demanding circuits on the calendar, so it’s important we maximise every session from Friday onwards. This is especially the case following two challenging race weekends, where our cars were ultimately not fast enough," said Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu.

Williams' team preview added, "We expect to utilise the full energy pack window: full at T1, depleted by T5, then full again at the T14 exit before emptying by T18. This leaves S2 significantly starved of energy with superclipping likely on both low & high-fuel runs."

This isn't a criticism of Spa, with the Belgian GP being one of the most popular tracks in the circuit. Rather, it heaps pressure on the FIA, who decided to change the engine regulations by removing DRS in favour of a bigger battery pack and an 'overtake' mode.

Despite making tweaks to the output balance, putting slightly more favour back into the engines, rather than the batteries, the board has continued to come under fire from stalwarts like four-time world champion Max Verstappen.

The Dutch driver recently claimed it was like playing 'Mario Kart', and believes the 55-45 split needs to be drastically changed to around 80-20.

With Spa being the most difficult circuit for engine management, Verstappen also pointed out that there simply won't be enough power on the long runs.

"Looking to Spa, it is my favourite track on the calendar and is always good to be back," he said.

"I think it could be trickier with the energy management limitations on the straights."

Verstappen has conquered Spa on many occasions, even winning from 14th on the grid in 2021 by completing mass overtakes on the slingshot-like corner-to-straight zones.

Last year, Spa was decorated in papaya as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris completed a one-two finish.

This year, that looks unlikely as the McLaren duo have been much slower than Mercedes and Ferrari.

Even with a 'significant' engine boost, McLaren boss Andrea Stella said it will be extremely 'challenging' at Spa this time around.

"Spa will be an interesting track for everyone. Similarly to Silverstone, it will be a heavily energy-starving circuit," he said.

But there is some hope after having Silverstone as a dummy test.

"In listening to our drivers, they raise flags in terms of how unpredictable is the speed difference. This is a point that we should listen to, because when drivers say like that, they do it for a reason," he continued.

“So I think we take away this element of concern from [Silverstone]; it may be similar in Spa, the straights are even longer in Spa, and there will be some challenges in terms of power unit exploitation.

“It will be about energy deployment for sure.

“There’s some areas in which you will not be able to deploy the straight mode, because there’s some full throttle areas, but there’s some lateral force, so we will not be allowed."

Yet, it does seem that most teams are in the same basket, so it might just be a slower, yet equally chaotic race than in other years gone by.

The biggest winners here seem to be Mercedes, who have held the best straight-line speed out of everyone this year, so expect the Silver Arrows to come out flying again.