Belgian Grand Prix president Melchior Wathelet said Spa-Francorchamps’ new Formula 1 contract reflects the series’ desire to downsize to “eight GPs in Europe”.
Spa-Francorchamps is arguably a beloved F1 classic venue, with countless fans keen to safeguard it as a permanent fixture on the calendar.
That enthusiasm has often been met with an uncertain future for Spa in F1, but a contract extension beyond 2025 was set in stone last week.
For Spa fanatics, the deal was met with mixed emotions as F1 confirmed the circuit will host the Belgian GP in 2026, ’27, ’29 and ’31 rather than annually.
“I am very satisfied,” Wathelet said of the deal (via Sporza). “These were difficult discussions. Formula 1 only wants eight GPs in Europe,” he added.
“It was therefore difficult to sign a permanent contract for a long period.”
F1 could have eight European races by 2027
As it stands, F1 has 10 European races on the calendar and the mechanisms to downsize to eight are clear to see.
F1 held a record 24 GPs last year and CEO Stefano Domenicali has repeatedly said he wishes for the calendar to be capped at this amount.
Still, there is growing interest from multiple regions keen on hosting F1 as the series continues to grow in popularity.
Rwanda has declared its intention to host a Grand Prix and there’s interest from South Africa, South Korea and Argentina as well.
Amid this interest, Domenicali shared via a Liberty investors call last November that “We have some news to share very, very soon with regard to the possibility in the mid-term to have some rotational European Grand Prix and some other new options coming later.”
Spa’s new deal is the first step in facilitating a rotational set of European races and it could likely be joined by the current Spanish GP venue – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – which has a contract through 2026.
Rotating between Spa and Catalunya from 2027 through 2031 would cut the number of European races from 10 to nine.
Furthermore, the Dutch GP has secured just a single-year contract extension through 2026, which helps bring F1 to its alleged target of eight European races.
Belgian GP organisers optimistic of securing further F1 races
Despite only having confirmed Belgian GP for 2026, 2027, 2029 and 2031, Wathelet is optimistic of broadening Spa’s new deal with F1.
“It is not certain that there will be no GP in Belgium in 2028 and 2030,” he said.
“The spirit of the agreement states that there will be at least 4 races. Maybe it will be up to another country, maybe Belgium.”
In essence, should new races on the calendar fail to materialise, Spa could well find its way back to hosting F1 annually.
The financial implications of bringing modern F1 to Spa
Spa’s F1 extension came at considerable expense with Domenicali having laid down the gauntlet to all ‘classic’ GP venues to modernise to remain part of the show.
As a result, a significant investment was made ahead of 2024 in updating the facilities at the venue meaning that despite drawing in a weekend crowd of 380,000 people, there was a reported €3 million loss attributed to last year’s race.
The Belgian GP has been able to lean on subsidies from the Walloon government in years gone by but that is set to change moving forward.
“The intention is to limit that as much as possible,” he said.
“In recent years, their contribution has even decreased, while the return on investment for the region and the country has increased.
“So that seems to me to be a reasonable investment.”
While updating the circuit’s infrastructure came at a cost, so did extending Spa’s deal with F1, but Wathelet isn’t concerned by the price hike.
“The amount is higher from 2026, but it is an increase of 3 to 4 percent. We thought that was reasonable,” he said.
“It is a reasonable inflation, which we think we can recover.”
READ MORE – Belgian GP to remain on F1 calendar through 2031 on rotational basis
