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Back in the day, Eau Rouge used to be a formidable corner in Formula 1.  Back in the V10 days, the cars would scream out of the exit before hammering along a straight which seemed to go on forever.  But as the engineers got increasingly clever with the levels of downforce they could glue the cars to the road with, the nature of circuits changed.  The effect was so great that a couple of drivers from a certain team, who will go unnamed, decided to try attacking Eau Rouge at full throttle.  It didn't end well, but they lived to fight another day.  However, with the move to V8 power and the relentless pursuit of more downforce, drivers regularly attack the mighty Eau Rouge kink at the Circuite de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium flat out and to give you an idea of what that looks like, check out the following video.

There was a great deal of uncertainty at the beginning the race.  How long until the first rain falls?  Will Webber be able to fend of Hamilton into turn 1 and then again at turn 5.  Unfortunately, Webber would lose more than just one place at the start when his anti-stall kicked in off the line and he sat stationary for a precious half second.  Webber would later explain that an issue on his warm up lap and the subsequent adjustment to the clutch were to blame for his poor start.

Rain fell and all hell broke loose on the second last corner, with 300 Grand Prix competitor Ruben Barrichello out braking himself (like most of the field) and collecting Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Vettel was bouncing off the rev limiter behind Button down the main and back (not so) straight.  Vettel then dropped it and collected Button into the second last corner while attempting to overtake him, promoting Renault's Robert Kubica and Red Bull's Mark Webber into second and third position.

Vettel was then handed a drive through penalty for causing the accident with Jenson Button.  Vettel was greeted by Jenson's mechanic's standing in the pit lane with their arms folded to indicate what they thought of the incident.

Adrian Sutil drove around Michael Schumacher down the main straight and got the job done before turn 5 showing how slippery his Force India is down the straights.  That is a great sign for them for the next round in Monza, where are particularly low downforce configuration is required to secure a few lap time.

Vettel's race went from bad to worse when he went to overtake Force India's Tonio Liuzzi.  Vettel seemed to have the move made when Vettel's rear left collected Liuzzi's front wing, resulting in a puncture.

Rain eventually would fall again, almost catching Hamilton out who found himself millimetres off the barrier and out in the gravel trap.  Fortunately for him, he was far enough in front as to be able to rejoin still in the lead.  Webber made strong progress to catch right up on Kubica in the tricky conditions.  Kubica then overshot his pit box, allowing Webber to rejoin in second position with intermediate tyres.

A safety car would then pick up the field as marshals recovered Alonso's strickened Ferrari.  Fernando found himself too wide on turn 7 and spun the car, breaking the front suspension.   

The positions of the top three would not change as the safety car came in on lap 40, leaving Hamilton to win the race a head of Webber and Kubica.  Many of the championship contenders failed to score, with Button and Alonso failing to finish and Vettel finishing outside of the points paying positions.

For Webber fans, this is perhaps one of the greatest finishes we could hope for, with Vettel failing to score points and Mark managing to secure solid points in second position.  I have my doubts Webber could have held the lead after turn 5 of the opening lap, so this result is very handy.  Monza is going to be another real challenge for the Red Bull team, but another podium finish would put Mark in an excellent position to capitalise on the strengths of the Red Bull throughout the remaining tracks of the 2010 calendar.

This is a track that you can't help but love.  At 7 km, it is too long by modern Grand Prix standards, but it's a magical place.  With it's change in elevation and track location, weather is always a concern and having a wet and dry track is nothing out of the ordinary.

Over the years, we have seen some very memorable moments at this circuit and below is a small collections.

1998 - Schumacher hits Coulthard while lapping the McLaren driver.  Schumacher was well an truly in the lead and gets quite upset at David, accusing him of trying to kill him.

And then of course there was this crash where the majority of the field was taken out after the first corner.  The most amusing part of this accident was seeing all the drivers sprinting back up the hill to get back into their spare cars.  Of course, with some teams having both cars written off, not everyone got to take a crack at the second start.

2001 - Mark Webber Crashes (be mentioned visiting the hospital on his simulator lap)

2002 - Onboard footage of Mark Webber completing a lap in a Minardi.  Notice the end of the lap has changed.  There used to be a bus stop complex which has now been removed to encourage overtaking.  Yes it has improved overtaking, but the old complex was such an icon, it's sad it had to go.  It's amazing how different the cars looked not so long ago.