The circuit is near Francorchamps in the Stavelot municipality bordering the town of Spa in the Ardennes region of Belgium.

The Spa-Francorchamps track was built in the early 1920s. Its layout connected the Ardennes villages of Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot. It was the idea of Jules de Thier, owner of the “La Meuse” newspaper, and Henri Langlois Van Ophem, member of the Sports Commission at the RACB (Royal Automobile Club Belgium). The circuit was inaugurated in 1924 with a 24-hour race for regular production cars.

The main events include the famous 24 Hours, a one-day event that inaugurated the facility. It was reserved for touring cars but since 2001 has been extended to GTs. It has been on the Formula 1 calendar since 1950, hosting the Belgian Grand Prix. The first edition of the Grand Prix, the European one, dates back to 1925. Formula 1 single-seaters have raced at Spa-Francorchamps except for a break in the 1970s. The Grand Prix was then held at Nivelles and Zolder before returning in 1983.

The circuit’s appeal extends throughout the 7km layout, but the most famous and fascinating section is undoubtedly the Eau Rouge-Raidillon combination. Eau Rouge, so-called because it was built over a small watercourse of the same name, is the left turn before the climb, leading to the Raidillon turn on the right, where the cars reach very high speeds, with a 17% gradient and a 40-metre drop.

At the end of the 1970’s the circuit management decided to build a new semi-permanent track, and through various interventions, gradually reduced the original 14 km to 7 km. In 1980, a new double chicane called the Bus Stop was added, so-called because it was located near a bus stop between the Blanchimont turn and the La Source hairpin. The new pits were built just before La Source due to the creation of a flat starting line to allow the return of Formula 1 cars under the new regulations. The old pit straight, still in use for the other categories, didn’t meet this requirement.