Fans who attended the rain-soaked 2021 Belgian Grand Prix will be able to participate in special events on Thursday August 25 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Last year’s Belgian Grand Prix was frustrating enough to watch on TV but spare a thought for the 75,000 spectators who endured a 3-hour wait in the rain for a race that never was. After less than three laps behind the Safety Car, the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix was red flagged and Max Verstappen was declared the ‘winner’, with half points awarded. In the aftermath of the event, Lewis Hamilton was among the many voices calling for ticket refunds.
As the race was classified, the Belgian Grand Prix promoter was under no legal obligation to provide ticket refunds or compensation – though they did contact affected spectators last December with an offer of an “F1 TV pass,” entry into a special prize draw to win 170 tickets to the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix and the chance to attend an “exclusive event” on the Thursday before this year’s race.
Just over two weeks before the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix weekend gets underway, the promoter has finally shared with fans the details of the “exclusive event” planned for Thursday August 25, which includes “various animations in the Fan Zone, appearances of celebrities, on-track demonstrations, and much more!”
Driver appearances, concerts, on-track demonstrations & a pitlane walk
On Thursday August 25, fans will be invited to the Fanzone from 10am, where F1, F2 and F3 drivers will be making special appearances on the big stage and musical acts will be performing.
At 2pm, the action moves to the track between the Chicane and Raidillon, where accessible grandstands will be open. The email reads: “We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but you might get the chance to see some drivers perform on the track. Mercedes AMG has something to celebrate and wants to share it with you… an Alpine show is also on the schedule, where several drivers will cause a sensation.”
The day’s activities end with a pitlane walk from 5:30pm, which also features an exhibition of historic Formula 1 cars on the starting grid. No autograph session or garage visits are planned during the pitlane walk. A DJ set from 6pm till 8pm in the Fanzone will conclude the day’s entertainment.
Parking is free on Thursday and car parks will be open from 9am. Fans can enter the circuit via the Ster and P15 entrance gates.
Unfortunately, this is not entirely true. The organizer did not contact all participants of the last year’s “race”. We have never received any information about this event. In July, WE contacted Spagrandprix only to be told we should have completed a form by the end of January. However, we were never informed of any kind of form. This is really disappointing after waiting the whole time in the rain for the “race” to officially be suspended and furthermore waiting all Monday in cold conditions for a tractor to pick us up from the campsite. (Btw, we bought our tickets directly from spagrandprix)
Sorry to hear that Sandy, I wasn’t aware that you had to sign up. I guess Spagrandprix didn’t advertise that too much.
Have you been able to get tickets for this event?
Although I didn’t attend last year, i did book to come this year, arriving Thursday morning in order to do the usual pit walk that happens on the Thursday, Spa GP have told me this isn’t going ahead this year, so now ill have 24hrs sitting in a campsite with nothing going on. A complete waste of taking a day off work!
Wij hebben via motorsport.com tickets besteld en voor invalide notabene! Kregen echter maar 2 tickets voor het hele weekend toegemaild!.
Daar sta je dan!
Konde niemand bereikt krijgen en daar kan Spa organisatie niks aan doen maar wij hebben dus voor 2 personen kaarten moeten kopen voor vrijdag en zAterdag en zondag ging niet meer. (Achteraf hebben we niks gemist) maar we zitten wel op een camping geboekt tot maandag!
Motorsport.com heeft vorig jaar grove fouten gemaakt want er was niemand bereikbaar voor uitleg waar onze andere tickets waren.
Uiteindelijk met 2 invalide en 2 begeleiders alleen op vrijdag en zaterdag geweest maar dan alleen omdat we nog gewone tickets konden kopen. Wat geen invalide tickets zijn dus was echt Klote!
Nu krijgen alleen mensen die zondag een natte dag hebben gehad compensatie en wij hebben via rechtsbijstand wel een gedeelte vergoed gekregen maar al met al was het gewoonweg een KUT weekend!
Nu kunnen we donderdag ook opeens niet meer naar de fan dag waar we andere jaren wel altijd bij kunnen zijn!
Baal als een stekker!
Vind donderdag juist altijd zo’n leuke dag!
Word ons dus weer een leuke dag afgenomen!
Pfff echt en gewone informatie krijg je niet gevonden hier op het net!
Denk dat we dit jaar gewoon langs de pot pissen!!!
Snik snik!
Monique,
Ik heb vorig jaar ook mn kaarten bij motorsporttickets gekocht (eigenlijk al het jaar daarvoor bij sportstadion), het was id een puinhoop en een hoop stress vorig jaar, ik kreeg ook eerst verkeerde links, gelukkig de woensdag voor vertrek kreeg ik uiteindelijk de juiste. (dit jaar weer via ticket & travel en alles ruim op tijd netjes geleverd gekregen).
Heb vandaag contact gehad met motorsporttickets, volgens hun kunnen houders van een weekendkaart 2022 donderdag gewoon naar de pitwalk:
https://www.spagrandprix.com/assets/eea83e77-a054-4bf4-b2d5-4fe5d5a6af3b/formula-1-rolex-belgian-grand-prix-2022-spa-francorchamps-v1.pdf
Hallo, ik begrijp dat je kaarten zoekt voor de donderdag? Ik heb er 2 en ga niet…ik wil je wel helpen hierin, laat maar horen
Hallo Kees,
Indien je de donderdag- toegangstickets nog hebt, hou ik me aanbevolen. Ik wil er graag met mijn 14 jarige zoon naar toe.
We zijn ook al donderdag op de camping.
Helaas heb ik niets mogen ontvangen van de organisatie voor die donderdag.
Groet Diana
Hoi Kees,
Indien je de kaarten voor morgen nog hebt, zou ik ze graaf willen overnemen. Je zou mij zoon er erg blij mee maken!
Hi andrew, only for understanding. The fanzone on thursday is only Open for guys, who had Tickets since Last year??
Which Option have owner from this year to see the driver ?
Thanks
That’s correct. I think the drivers will make an appearance on another day in the fanzone, but cannot guarantee this.
Pitwalks is open for all weekendtickets 2022
https://www.spagrandprix.com/assets/eea83e77-a054-4bf4-b2d5-4fe5d5a6af3b/formula-1-rolex-belgian-grand-prix-2022-spa-francorchamps-v1.pdf
Aside from Spa organisers providing the above for 2021 attendees, will there be access to the circuit and fanzone access on the Thursday?
Sorry I think the events on Thursday are only for 2021 ticket holders who signed up with the organizer. I don’t believe there will be access to the fanzone otherwise on Thursday
^
for people who didn’t attend the 2021 GP
Hi Andrew, thanks for the supply with all this information.
Could you please specify your assesment regarding thursday the 25th: will there be some special events for the ticket holder from 2021, or ist the whole day incl. pit lane walk, walking on the circuit, promotion activities, shows only for the 2021 ticket holders?
Or he other way round: Is there some reason to go there on thursday for ticket 2022 holders?
Thanks in advance!
Hello, if you don’t already have tickets for the events on Thursday (as a 2021 ticket holder who signed up for it) then there is no point attending on Thursday, in my opinion.
Weekendtickets holders 2022 can acces pitwalk on thursday as well:
https://www.spagrandprix.com/assets/eea83e77-a054-4bf4-b2d5-4fe5d5a6af3b/formula-1-rolex-belgian-grand-prix-2022-spa-francorchamps-v1.pdf
Great, thanks for sharing
Just be aware that the version number in the small print at the bottom of the doc in that link is V1-Draft whereas the one on the Spa website, that doesn’t show any public Thursday activities is V1-issued. A bit of a blow as we booked our travel to be there for the Thursday pit walk. Probably won’t stop us taking a wander down though.
Looks like this has been updated with Thursday activity removed – go on the website and open up a new timetable from there.
I think this is the ‘draft’ timetable and since superceded by the ‘final’ one which does not include the Thursday events. I am camping from the Thursday and will walk up in the hope that i am wrong. At least i am finally going, my son and i are using our 2020 ticket purchase at last. Must have been awful for spectators last year so is great that they have this opportunity, but a shame for the rest of us as the pit walk was one of the reasons for choosing this event instead of a few others that we could have attended.
https://www.spagrandprix.com/assets/cb31cf60-8c40-4205-a485-3bddcc4916b3/formula-1-rolex-belgian-grand-prix-2022-spa-francorchamps-v32.pdf
Hey, I think the timetable you are linking is an old version.
In fact at the end of the link there’s “…v1.pdf” (for version 1) but if you go to the SPA website under “F1 GP” and Timetable you can see the latest version (v32) and there’s no organisation for the 25th of August
Yes I noticed this as well, that’s why I didn’t update the guidance on our Trackside post – my understanding is that the Thursday activities this year are only available for 2021 ticketholders who signed up with SpaGrandPrix and who received an email about attending, with link to get free tickets
Mm. Not very clear. On the official Spa website there is nothing mentioned
Hi Andrew,
After reading your article and the comments I am not sure if with my week-end tickets of this year I can attend to the pit walk
Thank you 😊
My understanding is that the Thursday activities this year, including the pit lane walk, are only for the 2021 ticket holders who registered with the circuit earlier this year and receive the invitation a couple of weeks ago. Sorry
I think this is the ‘draft’ timetable (see the watermark) and since superceded by the ‘final’ one (see bottim right on the page for version) which does not include the Thursday events. I am camping from the Thursday and will walk up in the hope that i am wrong. At least i am finally going, my son and i are using our 2020 ticket purchase at last. Must have been awful for spectators last year so is great that they have this opportunity, but a shame for the rest of us as the pit walk was one of the reasons for choosing this event instead of a few others that we could have attended.
That’s my understanding as well, but if you are at the track anyway you may as well try your luck
Hi Andrew,
After reading the article and the comments I’m not sure about the pit walk. I bought weekend tickets on GA for this year grand prix and I wanted to know if you have official news about the pit lane walk. I read mixed things about it and don’t know what to do.
Thank you 😊
Hi Andrew, our tickets have been rolled over throughout covid, we are finally attending this year and have arranged our ferry crossing in time to attend the circuit on the Thursday morning at 10am is this still available for 3 day 2022 ticketholders?? Or are we only able to attend between 1600-1800
Sorry but it seems like the Thursday activities this year are reserved for those who attended last year (and registered with the circuit earlier this year to participate in this special event). I don’t even believe the pit lane walk will be open for 2022 ticket holders this year on Thursday, sorry
Hi, i was last year on sunday Belgian gp but i already didn’t receive any tickets for thursday event. I don’t know it i can go with my last year ticket or i need special ticket for this thursday?
You need a special ticket. Apparently you had to register for this earlier in the year. Everyone on the mailing list received an invitation with the chance to register and print out free tickets. You could try to contact the organizer and see if it’s still possible to get a ticket.
Hi Andrew
do you know how far is the yellow parking to the Blanchimont entrance, i am considering to bring bikes and go by bike like is mentioned in the web. However the Organisation doesn’t know the distance so far.
thanks
I used Google Maps to find landmarks near Yellow Parking and the Blanchimont entrance. It appears to be approx 9km, including a big loop around because of the road access. If you walked the same distance inside the circuit it would only be 4.6km
We are on a campsite here in Francorchamps and the owner has told us today that there is no pit walk for 3 day ticket holders this year. Happy to be corrected if anyone knows otherwise.