F1 goes into hyperdrive

Jacques Brel was the most celebrated singer in France for many years, but he wasted no time letting everyone know that he was actually a Belgian.

Though most of his chansons were biting satires of human behaviour, Le Plat Pays is a haunting tribute to the unremarkable terrain of his homeland. Even when sung in the harsh, guttural tones of his native Flemish, it is an achingly beautiful hymn to the horizontal.

If the Belgians could be so lyrical about the flat, it's no surprise really that when given some Ardennes hills to play with, they came up with the masterpiece that is Spa-Francorchamps.

It is, by a long way, the best track on the Formula 1 calendar, loved by drivers and fans alike - a 7km dinosaur that harks back to the days when F1 was thrilling and dangerous.

Unlike its giant relatives, the Nordschleife at the Nurburgring and the Circuit de la Sarthe at Le Mans, Spa managed to retain most of its character and beauty when it was shortened for safety reasons.

There are several things that make Spa such a marvel, starting with the first corner - La Source. It's a slightly uphill run to a hairpin so tight that even with a run-off area that runs halfway to Holland, there's inevitably a bit of barging on the opening lap.

The original start/finish line was situated beyond La Source on the run down to the greatest sequence in motor racing.

That's Eau Rouge - a downhill dive to cross the stream that gives the left-hand corner its name, followed by the uphill right-hand sweep that is officially called Radillion, but it is generally accepted to still be part of Eau Rouge.

It's a high-speed technical section, where choosing the right line can allow a driver to draught right up behind a rival then use DRS on the Kemmel Straight to blast past.

Get it wrong and you'll put the "oh" in Eau Rouge.

Then there's Blanchimont, a monster near the end of the lap approached at more than 300km/h.

Spa then goes from the sublime to the ridiculous.

The Bus Stop is as inappropriate to a grand prix track as it sounds: a finicky set of chicanes that serve the sole purpose of ensuring that drivers don't arrive in the pits via airmail.

The list of winners at the modern (post-1971) layout is headed by Michael Schumacher, with six, then Ayrton Senna, with five, and Kimi Raikkonen with four.

Fernando Alonso, the only other member of the current paddock with the skill to deserve a win here, has never won at Spa.