126-588: The Belgian Grand Prix ( French : Grand Prix de Belgique ; Dutch : Grote Prijs van België ; German : Großer Preis von Belgien ) is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula One World Championship. The first national race of Belgium was held in 1925 at the Spa region's race course, an area of the country that had been associated with motor sport since the very early years of racing. To accommodate Grand Prix motor racing ,
252-487: A 25-second penalty, considered a drive-through penalty under the regulations, for Hamilton's pass on Räikkönen after they had deemed that Hamilton had cut a corner in the Bus Stop chicane. This left Hamilton in third place behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa and BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld. The penalty cut Hamilton's lead over Massa to just two points with five races remaining. McLaren appealed the decision but were turned down as it
378-494: A Cooper, was fighting for sixth with Belgian Willy Mairesse . Bristow had never driven at Spa before, and was regarded as a brash and daring driver who had a reputation for being rather wild; the relatively inexperienced 22-year-old Englishman had been in many accidents during his short career. Mairesse was also known as an aggressive driver who had a win-at-all-costs mentality and was known to be difficult to pass, particularly on his home track. Bristow and Mairesse touched wheels, and
504-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
630-529: A Lotus, suffered a steering failure and crashed into trees next to the track near Stavelot. Taylor then was trapped in the car for some time with serious head and neck injuries. The accident ended his racing career; he later successfully sued Lotus founder Colin Chapman in British court for sale of faulty machinery. The race itself, however, was to be even more disastrous. On lap 17, Briton Chris Bristow , driving
756-513: A Matra. Come race day, McLaren won their first ever victory as a constructor, with its founder Bruce McLaren winning – but the race saw yet another serious accident. Briton Brian Redman crashed his works Cooper heavily at high speed into a parked Ford Cortina road car at Burnenville, and the Cooper caught fire. He was seriously burned and also badly broke his right arm; he did not race for most of that year. The following season, safety issues came to
882-625: A car that might be on fire to reduce the chance of injury or death. During practice, Stirling Moss, now driving a privately entered Lotus, had a wheel come off his car and he crashed heavily at the Burnenville right-hander. Moss, who was considered one of the best racing drivers in the world at the time, was thrown out of his car and landed unconscious in the middle of the track. The Englishman broke both legs, three vertebrae, several ribs and had many cuts and abrasions; he survived but did not race for most of that year. Briton Mike Taylor, also driving
1008-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
1134-584: A favourite of drivers and fans. In 1925, the first Belgian Grand Prix was held at the very fast, 9-mile Spa-Francorchamps circuit located in the Ardennes region of eastern Belgium, about half an hour from Liege. This race was won by the Italian works Alfa driver Antonio Ascari , whose son Alberto would win the race in 1952 and 1953. After winning the Belgian race, Antonio Ascari was killed in his next race at
1260-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
1386-538: A head. Average lap speeds were past 150 mph (240 km/h), but the circuit still had virtually no safety features and as a result the race over the years was becoming less and less popular with the drivers. The Grand Prix was scheduled for 8 June 1969 as part of that year's season . When Jackie Stewart visited the circuit on behalf of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association he demanded many improvements to safety barriers and road surfaces, in order to make
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#17327803602841512-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
1638-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
1764-547: A reputation as a totally unforgiving, frightening and a very mentally challenging circuit, even in those safety-absent days, and most racing events there – particularly the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa – had smaller-than-average fields because a number of drivers feared the circuit and did not like racing there. The layout was still the same as before, and the extremely small, almost non-existent margin for error as described before had been realised very quickly. The circuit
1890-683: A result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,
2016-592: A row (1962–1965). Teams in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season. A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship. A yellow background indicates an event which was part of the pre- war European Championship. Manufacturers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season. A pink background indicates an event which
2142-571: A row. Frequently drivers confront a part of the course that is clear and bright while another stretch is rainy and slippery. The Belgian Grand Prix was designated the European Grand Prix six times between 1925 and 1973, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. It is one of the most popular races on the Formula One calendar, due to the scenic and historical Spa-Francorchamps circuit being
2268-616: A telegraph pole, and dropped into a much lower part of the circuit where the car landed upside down. The BRM Stewart was driving had bent itself over his legs, so he could not get out by himself and the Scot ended up being stuck in his car for nearly 30 minutes. The fuel tanks, which were bags located inside the car that flanked the driver, had ruptured and were soaking him with flammable fuel, and he also had broken ribs and collarbone. Stewart's BRM teammate Graham Hill and Bob Bondurant , both of whom had gone off near Stewart, came to help. Because of
2394-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
2520-472: A wet/dry race, driving a Lotus. Nigel Mansell dominated the 1986 event, and he and Senna took each other out the following year when Mansell attempted to pass the Brazilian on the outside of a wide corner. Senna won the next four Belgian Grands Prix, the first two being rain-soaked events. The 1988 event was the first Belgian Grand Prix to be held in late August/early September instead of May or June (excluding
2646-457: A working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
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#17327803602842772-457: A works Lotus, suffered a freak accident when he was hit in the face by a bird on the Masta straight not far from where Bristow had been killed. Stacey then lost control of his car at 140 mph (228 km/h) and it climbed up and flew off an embankment next to the track. After penetrating 10 feet of thick bushes, the car landed on a spot in a field some 25 feet lower than the track. On impact with
2898-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
3024-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
3150-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
3276-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
3402-563: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3528-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3654-606: Is not permissible to appeal drive-through penalties. The stewards' decision was criticised by former world champion Niki Lauda calling it "completely wrong". In 2009, Bernie Ecclestone said in an interview that he would like the Belgian Grand Prix to rotate with a Grand Prix at the Nürburgring , rather than the Nürburgring rotating with the Hockenheimring . This rotation never eventualised and as of June 2020
3780-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
3906-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
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4032-639: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
4158-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
4284-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
4410-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
4536-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
4662-523: The 1925 French Grand Prix . The Grand Prix did not come back until 1930, and the circuit had been modified, bypassing the Malmedy chicane. The race was won by Louis Chiron, and in 1931, the Grand Prix had become something of an endurance race, with Briton William Grover-Williams and Caberto Conelli winning. 1933 was won by Tazio Nuvolari, and 1935 was won by Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes, by which time
4788-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
4914-544: The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps race course was built in 1921 but until 1924 it was used only for motorcycle racing. After the 1923 success of the new 24 hours of Le Mans in France, the Spa 24 Hours , a similar 24-hour endurance race, was run at the Spa track. Since its inception, Spa-Francorchamps has been known for its unpredictable weather. At one stage in its history it had rained at the Belgian Grand Prix for twenty years in
5040-609: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
5166-464: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only a second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and
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5292-533: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
5418-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
5544-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
5670-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
5796-713: The Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by
5922-775: The World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
6048-689: The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco; the Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to
6174-427: The ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in
6300-506: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
6426-408: The 1993 event after battling with Senna and Schumacher. 1994 saw a chicane installed at the bottom of Eau Rouge in response to the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola that year. 1995 saw the chicane gone, and Schumacher won this and the next two Belgian Grands Prix. The 1998 event ran in torrential conditions. The race was originally stopped after an accident involving thirteen of
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#17327803602846552-773: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
6678-411: The Belgian Grand Prix did not return until June 1946, when the 2 to 4.5 litres race at the Bois de la Cambre public park in the Belgian capital of Brussels was won by Frenchman Eugène Chaboud in a Delage. Spa was modified to make it even faster, shortening it to 8.7 miles (14.1 km). All of the slow corners were taken out – the Stavelot hairpin was bypassed and made into a fast banked corner and
6804-462: The Belgian Grand Prix is contracted to be held through 2022. The 2021 race became particularly notable for becoming the shortest Formula One World Championship race in history and the only World Championship Grand Prix not to have any running under full green flag conditions in its duration with only two full completed laps completed behind the safety car before the race was red-flagged on lap 3 and not restarted due to adverse weather conditions with
6930-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
7056-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
7182-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
7308-497: The Englishman lost control at Malmedy, overturned and crashed into an embankment on the right side of the track. The car rolled several times, Bristow was thrown from his car and was decapitated by some barbed-wire fencing next to the circuit, killing him instantly; his body partially landed on the track where it stayed for some time. Mairesse continued, but retired from the race later on with gearbox trouble. 5 laps later, 26-year-old Briton Alan Stacey , running in sixth place and driving
7434-422: The FIA announced the Belgian Grand Prix would not be on the calendar, since the local authorities would not be able to complete major repair work at Spa-Francorchamps before the September race. The Belgian Grand Prix returned in 2007, when Kimi Räikkönen took pole position and his third Belgian Grand Prix win in a row. In 2008, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton survived a frantic last two laps in a late shower of rain to win
7560-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
7686-410: The Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
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#17327803602847812-481: The Malmedy chicane was also bypassed. At this time, every corner except La Source was ultra-high speed. Spa over this time became known as one of the most extreme, challenging and fearsome circuits in motorsports history. 1950 saw the introduction of the Formula One World Championship; the race was dominated by the Alfa Romeos of Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and Italian Nino Farina . Their closest challenger, Alberto Ascari , ran into fuel problems and fell back. The race
7938-402: The OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as a second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
8064-404: The absence of safety precautions in those days, they had to borrow spanners from a nearby spectator, and the two drivers got Stewart out. There were other bad accidents on the circuit; some of the cars were hanging off 30-feet-high ledges. Stewart's crash at this race inspired his subsequent crusade for safety at racetracks. There was so much water on the track that the Climax engine in Clark's Lotus
8190-425: The accident; he was severely injured and died during the night at a hospital near the circuit. John Watson won the race for McLaren . Spa-Francorchamps had been shortened to 4.3 mi (7 km) in 1979; the parts that went into and through the urban countryside that swept past towns and other obstructions had been cut out and replaced with a new series of corners right before the Les Combes left-hand corner, and
8316-420: The circuit had re-installed the Malmedy Chicane. The 1939 race saw the birth of the Raidillon corner; it was a bypass of the Ancienne Douane section. In contrast to popular belief, only the small kink to the left at the bottom of the drop is named Eau Rouge, which directly leads into Raidillon, a very long right uphill corner; and the tricky left blind corner at the top has no name. The conditions were dreadful, and
8442-404: The circuit meant that cars spinning off could hit telegraph poles, houses, stone walls, embankments or trees. Many drivers were killed or seriously injured at Spa during the 1950s in all disciplines of motorsport that competed there. 1958 was won by Briton Tony Brooks, driving a Vanwall, from his teammate Stirling Moss. The race was not run in 1959, but 1960 was to be one of the darkest weekends in
8568-404: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
8694-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
8820-489: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
8946-406: The engine capacity up to a maximum of 3 litres from 1.5 – engines had now twice as much horsepower as before. This year saw another rain-soaked race: on the first lap, as the field reached the far side of the circuit, a heavy rainstorm caused seven drivers to hydroplane off at Burnenville. Briton Jackie Stewart had a high speed accident at the Masta Kink, where he went through a woodcutter's hut, hit
9072-454: The event postponed because of a new asphalt that had been laid down specifically to help the cars on the often rain-soaked Spa circuit. But to the embarrassment of the organizers, the weather was hot, and the track surface broke up so badly the drivers could not drive on it. The event was moved from its original date in early June to mid-September. When mid-September came around, Brazilian Ayrton Senna took his first of five Belgian Grands Prix in
9198-407: The fast Malmedy corner installed at the circuit, but even this did not stop the cars still averaging over 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) around the 8.7 miles (14.0 km) track. The race was won by Mexican Pedro Rodriguez in a BRM with New Zealander Chris Amon finishing 1.1 seconds behind in a March. But Spa was still too fast and too dangerous, and in 1971 the Belgian Grand Prix was cancelled, as
9324-438: The field reached the pit straight again (by which time Luckett had been removed from the road, although the track still had Stohr's broken Arrows car on the circuit and the surface was littered with debris) a number of track marshals jumped onto the tarmac and frantically waved their arms to try to make the field stop while waving yellow flags instead of red flags. The cars went by at full racing speeds. When they came back again for
9450-474: The field, it then exploded and burst into flames, killing him. It was not known whether the impact broke his neck or if the fire burned him alive while unconscious. Australian Jack Brabham won the race, and British future great Jim Clark scored his first Formula One points by finishing 5th – but Clark, like a number of other drivers, developed an intense dislike for the circuit after he had to swerve at extreme speeds to avoid running over Bristow's headless body. It
9576-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
9702-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
9828-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
9954-403: The grid, so his mechanic Dave Luckett jumped onto the circuit to try and start Patrese's car; however, the organizers started the race and the whole field went into motion while Luckett was still on the road. Next, the other Arrows driver, Italian Siegfried Stohr , hit the back of Patrese's car, where Luckett was standing. Luckett was knocked unconscious and laid sprawled on the circuit. Then, when
10080-474: The history of Formula One. Grand Prix racing had moved forward to a new kind of car design – new British independent teams such as Cooper and Lotus had pioneered the rear-mid-engined car, much like the Auto Union Grand Prix cars of the 1930s. These cars were considerably lighter, faster and easier to drive than their front-engined predecessors, and it became obvious that rear-mid-engined cars were
10206-519: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
10332-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
10458-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
10584-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
10710-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
10836-509: The new track rejoined the old on the straight leading up to Blanchimont. The first race at the shortened Spa circuit was won by Frenchman Alain Prost , and the circuit was an immediate hit with drivers, teams and fans. The Belgian Grand Prix returned to Zolder in 1984 and this was the last F1 race held at the Flemish circuit with Italian Michele Alboreto taking victory in a Ferrari. 1985 saw
10962-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
11088-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
11214-448: The race classification being counted back to the end of lap 1 with Max Verstappen classified first, George Russell second and Lewis Hamilton third, with half points being awarded. The controversy surrounding the awarding of points for this race led to Formula One and the FIA changing the points structure for shortened races ahead of the 2022 Formula One World Championship . The 2022 race
11340-513: The race for Lotus , driving the 79 in its debut race. In 1979, Jody Scheckter won the race in his Ferrari , and in 1980 Didier Pironi became a first time winner in his Ligier . The 1981 meeting was a chaotic event wrapped in the midst of the FISA–FOCA war and the poor conditions of the Zolder circuit, including its very narrow pitlane. During Friday practice, Osella mechanic Giovanni Amadeo
11466-404: The race was marred by the death of British driver Richard "Dick" Seaman while leading the race. Going into Clubhouse corner, Seaman was pushing hard; he skidded off the rain-soaked road, hit a tree and his Mercedes caught fire. Seaman received life-threatening burns, and he succumbed to his injuries later in hospital. The race was won by Seaman's teammate Hermann Lang . World War II broke out, and
11592-476: The race was won by Fittipaldi, but the circuit was unpopular among the Formula One circus and after that event the organizers were unable to sustain a Grand Prix at Nivelles, and the track faded from the racing scene. The Belgian Grand Prix would be held at Zolder a further nine times. Niki Lauda scored back-to-back victories at the track in 1975 and 1976, and in 1977 Gunnar Nilsson scored his only F1 victory at Zolder. The following year Mario Andretti dominated
11718-470: The race, the Argentine took victory as he had the year before in a Maserati. 1956 saw a wet race, with Moss in a Maserati lead, and Fangio, now driving for Ferrari, made a bad start and dropped to fifth at the start, although he got up to second behind Moss. The track was drying, and Moss lost a wheel at Raidillon corner. He did not hit anything and went back to take over his teammate Cesare Perdisa's car and
11844-408: The race. Hamilton lost the lead to Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen with an early spin but fought back in the closing laps to re-take the lead with two laps to go. On a soaking track, Hamilton passed Räikkönen, lost the lead again with a spin, re-took it and then saw Räikkönen crash. Ferrari's Felipe Massa took second leaving him eight points behind Hamilton. However, the stewards decided after the race to apply
11970-478: The rescheduled 1985 event) and it has remained in this time frame ever since. The 1990 event had to be restarted twice after a multi-car accident at the La Source hairpin on the first start and then Paolo Barilla crashing at Eau Rouge on the second start. In 1992 German Michael Schumacher won his first of 91 Grand Prix victories in a Benetton, a year after making his Formula 1 debut at the circuit. Damon Hill won
12096-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
12222-482: The third lap they voluntarily stopped themselves. The race was restarted and was won by Reutemann. Luckett survived the incident, but neither Patrese nor Stohr started the second race. Gilles Villeneuve died during practice at Zolder in 1982 after a collision with West German Jochen Mass going into the fast Butte corner. Villeneuve's Ferrari flipped a number of times and the Canadian was thrown out of his car during
12348-466: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
12474-408: The track safe for racing. When the track owners did not want to pay for the safety improvements, the British, French and Italian teams withdrew from the event, and it was cancelled in early April. The exclusion of the Belgian Grand Prix that year was not popular with the press, particularly British journalist Denis Jenkinson . One last race was held there in 1970 with barriers and a temporary chicane at
12600-534: The track was not up to mandatory FIA-mandated safety specs that year. The event was then eventually relocated. Following that decision, the Belgians decided to alternate their Grand Prix between Zolder in northern Belgium and a circuit at Nivelles-Baulers near Brussels . The first race at Nivelles in 1972 was won by Emerson Fittipaldi . Zolder hosted the race the following year and it was won by Jackie Stewart . Formula One returned to Nivelles in 1974. Once again
12726-462: The tube-frame chassis of that day offered little crash resistance (as opposed to a modern-day monocoque, pioneered by Lotus only a few years later). Cars were not crash-tested and lacked roll bars (made mandatory in 1961) and fire extinguishers. Although drivers did wear helmets, they were made of weak and lightweight material and not scientifically designed or tested. Drivers in those days did not wear seatbelts – they found it preferable to be thrown from
12852-518: The twenty-two runners at the first corner. After the restart, heavy rain caused low visibility, and Michael Schumacher ran into the back of David Coulthard , an event that angered Schumacher so much he stormed into the McLaren garage to confront Coulthard, claiming he had tried to kill him. Coulthard later admitted he had been at fault, due to his own inexperience. Only eight drivers were classified finishers (two of whom were five laps behind, one of whom
12978-679: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
13104-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
13230-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
13356-426: The way to go in purpose-built automobile racing. But this new type of cars had not been driven at Spa before, so no one knew how they would perform there. The high-speed bends at Spa were now much faster with these new cars – and in those days, the cars or circuits for that matter had absolutely no safety features of any kind. The cylinder-shaped bodywork was made of very thin highly flammable magnesium or fibreglass, and
13482-536: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
13608-647: The works Ferrari driver was thrown out of his car, receiving serious leg and head injuries. He was in a coma for a week, and initially his legs were in danger of needing amputation. He survived, but never raced in Formula One again. 1968 saw a number of firsts: wings as an aerodynamic device were introduced for the first time in Formula One. The European constructors, particularly Colin Chapman and Mauro Forghieri , were influenced by American Jim Hall 's Chaparral 2E and 2F sports cars' very large high strutted wings. New Zealander Chris Amon qualified his rear-wing equipped Ferrari on pole position by 4 seconds over Stewart in
13734-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
13860-503: The world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in
13986-484: Was Coulthard) and Damon Hill secured a victory ahead of his teammate Ralf Schumacher to record the Jordan team's first Formula One win. Schumacher won his 52nd Grand Prix at Spa in 2001, surpassing Alain Prost 's all-time record of 51 wins. Schumacher also won his seventh World Drivers' Championship title at Spa in 2004. There was no Belgian Grand Prix in 2003 because of the country's tobacco advertising laws. In 2006,
14112-623: Was able to finish 3rd. The gearbox in Fangio's car broke, and his teammate Peter Collins won the race. The 1957 race was cancelled because there was no money for the race to be held, thanks to the extreme prices of fuel in Belgium and the Netherlands caused by the Suez crisis . 1958 saw Spa upgraded with new facilities, a resurfaced track and also the pit straight was made wider. But Spa had gained
14238-450: Was accidentally run over in the pitlane by Argentine Carlos Reutemann . He died of his injuries the day after the race. On race day, as a result of the poor conditions of Zolder and the accident on Friday, there was drivers' strike which caused the race to be started later than scheduled. Then, when the race started after yet another delay, there was a starting-grid accident involving an Arrows mechanic: Riccardo Patrese stalled his Arrows on
14364-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
14490-422: Was extremely challenging, mainly because each corner on the circuit was so fast, and also because of the circuit's long length in addition to the fact that it was almost exclusively made up of fast corners and straights. The circuit was very fast, and each corner had to be taken correctly to maintain speed through the next one. Lifting off or taking the wrong racing line would result in several seconds being lost. Spa
14616-434: Was flooded and failed. Briton John Surtees won the race in a Ferrari, followed by Austrian Jochen Rindt in a Cooper. 1967 saw American Dan Gurney in his Eagle win after Clark had mechanical problems – it was to be Eagle's only F1 victory. Briton Mike Parkes crashed heavily at 150 mph at Blanchimont after slipping on some oil that had dropped off of Jackie Stewart's BRM. After his car hit and climbed up an embankment,
14742-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
14868-652: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
14994-407: Was located in a region where the weather was unpredictable; in many races there, while one part of the track was dry and had sunshine, another at the same time was soaking wet and it was raining there. There were no radios in the days of the old Spa circuit, so drivers had no idea of circuit conditions and could encounter rain without warning, where there had been none on the previous lap. The nature of
15120-401: Was not part of the Formula One World Championship. A yellow background indicates an event which was part of the pre- war European Championship. * Built by Cosworth , funded by Ford ** Between 1999 and 2005 built by Ilmor , funded by Mercedes A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship. A yellow background indicates an event which
15246-472: Was part of the pre- war European Championship. A green background indicates an event which was part of the pre-war World Manufacturers' Championship . French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from
15372-594: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
15498-570: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
15624-449: Was the worst Formula One event in terms of fatalities until the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix . 1961 saw Ferrari make use of their superior horsepower, and they romped home 1–2–3–4, with Phil Hill winning. 1962 saw Clark win his first race, going on to win the next three Belgian Grands Prix. 1963 was a rain-soaked race with Clark finishing 4.5 minutes in front of second-placed Bruce McLaren . 1966 featured cars built under new regulations with
15750-501: Was won by Fangio, and Farina won the next year's race in his works Alfa after Fangio dropped back with hub problems. 1953 saw Ascari dominate in his Ferrari while the Maseratis fell apart. Fangio crashed and José Froilán González had a steering failure and stopped out near the banked Stavelot corner. 1955 saw Mercedes dominate, Fangio and his British teammate Stirling Moss led the race distance. Moss followed Fangio closely for most of
15876-589: Was won by Verstappen from 14th, the second lowest position the race has been won from, after Michael Schumacher in 1995 . The race's contract was extended to the 2023 season. In October 2023 the race's contract was extended to the 2025 season. Drivers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season. Michael Schumacher won the Belgian Grand Prix six times. Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton won five times each, including four consecutively from 1988 to 1991 for Senna. Kimi Räikkönen and Jim Clark won four times each. Clark also won four times in
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