A record 400,000 fans packed Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix, and that makes the rotation deal sting
Belgium turned out in numbers Spa has never seen
Our home Grand Prix has just delivered its finest attendance figure ever. A record 400,000 people came through the gates at Spa-Francorchamps across the weekend, the biggest Formula 1 crowd in the circuit's long history, and proof that Belgian motorsport is in rude health.
A decade of remarkable growth
The 400,000 figure is up 11,000 on 2025, but the longer view is far more striking. Back in 2015, Spa welcomed 165,000 fans across the weekend. Attendance has more than doubled in ten years, a rise that reflects both Formula 1's broader boom and the enduring pull of what many still consider the greatest circuit on the calendar.
Among the biggest races of the year
That total makes Spa the third best-attended round of the 2026 season so far, behind only the British Grand Prix on 564,000 and the Australian Grand Prix on 484,000. Across the opening ten rounds, Formula 1 has drawn an estimated 3.5 million spectators, and Belgium is holding its own against far larger countries.
What they came to see
The racing repaid them. Kimi Antonelli took victory on 19 July and extended his championship lead, finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari and Max Verstappen's Red Bull. There was a milestone in third, too: Verstappen's podium was the 300th achieved by a Red Bull driver. The weekend also featured Formula 2, Formula 3 and the Porsche Supercup, with driver meet-and-greets running in the fan zone throughout.
The problem with the calendar
Here is the frustrating part. Under the rotational agreement announced in January 2025, the 2027 Belgian Grand Prix will be the last at Spa until 2029. The race alternates with the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, meaning no Belgian round in 2028 or 2030, with that every-other-year pattern set to run until at least 2031. Record crowds or not, Spa is only guaranteed half the calendar slots it once had.
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Four hundred thousand people is a staggering number for a country of Belgium's size, and it is a genuine source of pride. It also makes the rotation deal harder to swallow. When a circuit doubles its crowd in a decade and ranks third globally for attendance, the obvious question is why it should sit out every other season while newer venues keep their annual slots.
The counter-argument is that rotation is what keeps Spa on the calendar at all, and given the alternative that is worth remembering. But these figures are the strongest possible case for Belgium's place in Formula 1, and with young talent like Dries Van Langendonck coming through, the appetite here is clearly not going anywhere. Make the most of 2027.
