Heysel

Originally held on the Léopold III circuit in 1949, the Formula 2 Brussels Grand Prix returned in 1960 on another temporary layout in the Heysel section of the city. Set close to the modernist Atomium that had been part of the 1958 Brussels World Fair, the course passed underneath a motorway, by strawbale protected houses and via two sharp hairpins, with work on the temporary grandstands still ongoing when practice began. The race was switched to new 1.5-litre Formula 1 rules in 1961 with three heats to decide the winner on a points basis. The circuit extended around the northern roundabout and 60,000 spectators crammed the bridges to see Jack Brabham win for a second successive year. Ferrari’s Willy Mairesse won the final edition in 1962 despite crashing during the second heat.