Sky Sports F1 pundits question Spa changes after second death in four years

Formula 1

Sky Sports F1 pundits question Spa changes after second death in four years

Dilano van 't Hoff lost his life racing at Spa on Saturday

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Wednesday 5 July 2023 14:57

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Sky Sports pundits Naomi Schiff and Bernie Collins have questioned whether changes should be made to the circuit at Spa-Francorchamps after Dilano van 't Hoff was killed following a crash at the track.

In a wet final race of the weekend at the Belgian circuit, the Dutch teenager was involved in a multi-car incident on the exit of Raidillon.

Anthoine Hubert also tragically lost his life there in 2019 and calls are now growing that changes need to take place to prevent further tragedy.

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And both Schiff and Collins have raised questions over whether the time has come to make amendments to the track.

“I think they [the drivers] will lobby for it," Collins told Sky Sports. "They have a lot of drivers’ meetings. I presume that next week when we’re in Silverstone, it’ll come up in the drivers’ meeting, it’ll be discussed ahead of Spa.

"I’m sure we’re all looking at now, that we’re too close to Spa to really do anything, except like Damon [Hill] suggests – that in very wet conditions, they immediately stop and red flag the race.

"That was maybe something that could’ve got away from this situation."

Collins: Spa discussion needs to continue

“It’s a tough call," she added. "We’ve had races at Spa where it has been red flagged, and everyone’s been complaining that it was red flagged too soon potentially.

"So, it’s very very difficult without some major changes to the circuit, but it’s nice to see Lance Stroll talking about it there [after the sprint race], raising it early, and it’ll be discussed a lot in the coming weeks.

"But that unfortunately doesn’t change what’s happened today and what’s happened over the past few years. That needs to be maybe in the forefront of our minds first and then move forward from that."

It's a fault of the corner

Schiff, although aware of the history associated with the track, agreed that something needs to be done to prevent further tragedies from taking place.

She said: “I have to say, as a Belgian, we do definitely pride ourselves on Eau Rouge and Radillon as a corner in global motorsport...

"However, we don’t want to see people losing their lives because of it and in spite of it. Visibility is clearly an issue, but we’ve seen a very similar incident happening in dry conditions as well.

"It is a fault of the corner; it is something that’s going to have to change. They’ve obviously made efforts to change it already, but clearly that’s not been enough. It’s tough though because what more can you do?"

GPFans sends their best wishes and condolences to Dilano van 't Hoff's family, his team and friends at this extremely difficult time