Adjustments needed to Spa circuit? "Risk is part and parcel of this sport"

The safety of Spa-Francorchamps has been the subject of much debate in recent weeks. F1 race director Michael Masi said earlier that Spa is safe enough, while drivers and analysts doubt this since the serious accidents of the last weeks.

To Motorsport.com former F1 driver Luciano Burti admitted that racing in general has its risks and Spa is no exception.

"Motorsport remains dangerous, after all. It's impossible to go faster than 200 kilometres per hour in a car and think that everything is completely safe. That's just not feasible. By the way, many of today's tracks already have more space and the cars all have halos these days. I was strongly against that at first, but have to admit I was wrong after all."

Spa part of DNA F1

Because just like Silverstone and Monza, Spa is now part of F1's history. "Maybe I'm a bit old-school, but Spa really is part of the DNA of Formula 1. Take a good look at tracks like Spa, Silverstone, Monza, Monaco, you just can't create more space there, you can't make them 100 per cent safe. That also has a lot to do with the terrain."

"If you walk up through Eau Rouge once, you immediately realize at there is no other way out," Burti continued. "You have to choose: either keep Eau Rouge in its current form or build a tunnel. Another option is to stop racing at Spa, but I'm strongly against that. I don't want F1 to only come to circuits like Abu Dhabi or Paul Ricard, where you can keep your foot down and nothing ever happens. Risk is part and parcel of this sport. We want to see people pushing the limit and unfortunately that also includes serious accidents. Hopefully no one will die in a crash, but risk is part of the DNA of car and motor sport."

For now, the circuit in Belgium is not going to be modified, even after the crashes of the past few weeks. In two weeks, the Belgian F1 Grand Prix is scheduled to take place.