The Spa Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium is a classic fan favourite on the calendar, with a flowing middle sector and massive long straights that offer racing opportunities, along with frequent wet weather to spice things up even more.

 

For setups, there’s the usual trope at Spa that you can go with a super low downforce setup that’s better in sectors 1 and 3, or a higher downforce setup that’s better in sector 2.

On F1 24, I think I’m starting to figure out the setups, and that’s all kind of out the window now. With how powerful the slipstream, DRS and ERS are together, you always need to be running super low wings, lower than you would have on some previous games.

Therefore, it’s a low downforce setup you need for races round here. And I just created a good one that’s really just a slight mod of my template setup, with quite low wing levels.

Here’s a general dry race setup for Belgium for a controller user:

• Wings – 8/10
• Diff – 10/55/50
• Camber/Toe – -3.50/-2.20/0.00/0.13 (LLL13)
• Suspension – 39-5-15-9-25-58
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/53% Bias
• Tyre Pressures – Fronts 26.0; Rears 23.5

This was really strong on the straights and good enough in the corners to keep lap times competitive. Again, as I get the hang of these setups I’m managing to qualify and race cars ahead of where they should be, so this setup seems to be working.

Additional Setup Tips & Analysis

You can go down some different routes with setups here, so here’s some more considerations for creating your own setup.

Wing levels – I thought even 8/10 wings might be too high on this game, but it seemed to be just right in allowing me to attack and defend and not get swamped with AI cars in the dry. But you can go higher or lower depending on preference, trying anything from 4/6 wings to 10/12 wings, and see what you prefer. Just be aware that you need strong straight line speed to hold position against the insane AI on this game (use a fresh engine for this race if you have one). 8/10 worked very well for me first time in the dry here.

Wing spacing – I need that usual 2 click spacing with the rear above the front here for better stability and good traction out of corners. You can bring the wings closer together or invert, but it’ll make the traction harder on a pad, especially with worn tyres. And you’re also more likely to clip the raised kerbs and spin off. The Off Throttle Diff is also bumped up to 55 to dampen the rotation further. For me, 8/10 worked fine and still provided enough top speed.

Tyre Pressures – Middle pressures seemed to work fine for me. On the soft tyres, the rear temps were starting to get close to danger zone at about 102-103 C, but I didn’t see any problems with the handling using my setup. You can raise the rears a few clicks if you want, but the fronts were fine leaving pressures in the middle. If you want more high speed responsiveness, set them all to maximum. Running lower pressures like I usually do gives better traction and low speed grip.

Intermediate Conditions – When it’s just raining lightly, your dry setup can work OK, but I’d always space the rear wing 3 clicks above the front in any wet conditions round here. So I’d use 7/10 or 8/11 wings round here, raising them 1-2 clicks if you prefer as well. You can also soften the suspension and raise the ride height 1-2 clicks if you want, and set your On Throttle Diff to minimum if it’s not already there, for easier traction.

Full Wet Conditions – For heavy rain conditions, you’ll definitely benefit from making some more obvious tweaks, moving your wings and suspension values 3-5 clicks. But you still need to keep somewhat low wings to properly attack and defend on the straights.

Here’s a suggested wet race setup for Spa for a controller user:

• Wings – 13/16
• Diff – 10/60/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.00/0.13
• Suspension –  37-4-13-7-28-61
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/53 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Middle pressures all tyres.

Again, you need that 3 click spacing in the wet round here when using a pad in my opinion, as it makes the car more stable and easier to control out of corners, preventing that over-rotation that’s been common in the last few games when using a controller.

More Setup Resources For Belgium 

There’s always quite a few different setup routes players go down in Spa, especially regarding wing levels and spacing. Some people are using the rear wing as low as 4 and the front wing as high as 15.

I want stable and easy to control race setups. But if you want more aggressive single lap pace and TT style setups, plus custom setups for specific cars, here are some extra resources to check out:

• For a more aggressive race setup, check out the SimRacingSetups channel’s Spa setup. But be aware it’s created on a wheel and therefore uses much more aggressive setup parameters (especially the wings) that may not be suited for a pad user. A potentially faster setup but harder to control.
• F1laps.com Spa page – Another car setup forum with pages for every track, and loads of custom setups posted, both TT and race, all cars, all conditions.
• F1gamesetup.com – An even more specialized resource with custom setups, every car and every track, wet and dry weather.
• Sim Racing Centre (Premium) – Need to pay for these setups, but they’re higher end aggressive configurations designed by eSports drivers. Will likely be hard to control on a pad without some tweaking, but they have a support team who can help you with this. Just be aware they’re wheel user focused and higher end (i.e. more unstable) setups.

Additional Racing & Strategy Tips

Spa has always been about engine power and top speed, but even more so on F1 24 with the insane potency of the ERS/DRS/slipstream combo. Here’s some extra tips for racing here.

Engines – Like Monza, this is a good race to put in a fresh engine if you have one available, as you really need the best straight line speed you can get against the AI here. This is not a race to use a 60% worn engine at. You can use an older engine for the practice sessions, but I always change to a brand new or fresh engine after the final practice session, before Qualifying starts.

ERS (Qualifying) – You’ve got about 7-8 seconds of the fastest Overtake ERS mode to use on Quali laps on online races to boost your lap time. I personally use a couple of seconds each going onto the hotlap, onto the Kemmel straight combined with DRS (really pushes up top speed), on the long straight in sector 3 and coming back onto the pit straight to finish the lap. Keep an eye on the yellow ERS bar and look to drain it perfectly just as you finish a flying lap.

Kerbs – Lots of raised kerbs at this track that you need to avoid here as they’ll spit you off the track. The kerbs in the twisty sector two can be particularly annoying and unsettle the car if you ride them. I’ve tried to provide a setup that doesn’t turn in too aggressively so you can avoid these kerbs, but adjust your wings or off throttle diff if needed if you find the car turning in too sharply and riding the kerbs too often.

Defending – ERS does drain fast here, but the good news is that it also recoups fast, so you can implement a straightforward defence strategy to ward off chasing cars if needed. Just use all your ERS in Sector 1, on the pit straight, coming out of turn 1 before the hill, and then again coming out of Eau Rouge if needed, and with low enough wings you should be able to defend against the AI. Then just let the battery recharge the rest of the lap and repeat again if needed to keep defending position. Seemed to work for me in my first career race here.

Mastering Spa – Detailed Track Guide