AFTER spending a great deal of money last year rebuilding the pits and paddock and modifying the circuit considerably, easing corners, removing bumps, widening the road and re-surfacing, all the work was to no avail for financial wrangles prevented the Belgian GP being held in 1957. However, this year all was well and the full Grand Prix circus was entered.
After the Dutch GP at Zandvoort the Vanwall team were favourites, though the V6 Ferraris could not be overlooked, for this being their first race on a really high-speed circuit it was going to give them a chance to show if their high power output claims were really true. Since the last occasion on which Grand Prix cars ran at Spa so many changes have been made to the circuit and the cars that no comparisons are possible, the only figure available as a guide before practice started being the fastest sports-car lap recorded by Gendebien with a 4.1-litre Ferrari in 4min 9.8sec last August on the modified circuit.
With the roads used for the circuit being part of the everyday road system around the area between Francorchamps and Stavelot, practising was limited to a two-hour session for each of the three days preceding the race, and on Thursday evening Vanwall, Ferrari, BRM and Cooper team cars appeared and one lone Maserati.
