Quote:
Originally Posted by Artemis
The 1985 Ickx-Bellof crash at Spa-Francorchamps was controversial: most agree that multiple champion Jacky Ickx had the racing line and that Stefan Bellof tried to overtake his main rival at Eau Rouge with a bold maneuver on the left. Some say that Ickx drove the racing line followed by a racing incident, some say that Ickx 'closed the door' for Bellof, some say that Bellof was way too confident to pull off that bold move.
True that it was very ambitious of Bellof to try this tricky maneuver on his very experienced main rival, in the most daunting section of the circuit (actually, one of the most daunting sections of any circuit worldwide), in front of the rival's home audience. The ingredients for a crash were present - the tension between Ickx and Bellof was palpable. The tailgating lasted only three laps. It ended with a drama, claiming the life of likely the most talented race driver of Germany since decades.
Maybe part of the answer is that Bellof fearlessly pushed the envelope too hard when racing. Flirting with the thin line separating 'on the limit' from 'over the limit', close to the edge of recklessness. If the 'elbows out' overtaking maneuver by Bellof at Eau Rouge had been successful, it would have been considered 'big balls'. OK, he would neither have been the first nor the last to overtake on the left at Eau Rouge, but the 'youngster' trying to outfox Ickx in his 'backyard', was like a war declaration - things got too personal.
Throughout his long racing career, Ickx witnessed many race drivers perish in crashes. Back in the day, way too many tragic accidents happened. I believe to recall an interview where Ickx said that he was very lucky to have survived his racing career.
By the way, the age difference between Ickx and Bellof was 13 years. The age difference between Hamilton and Verstappen is 12 years. Beware with aggressively challenging a main rival at his home race.
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If he had survived to be in the '86 Ferrari team he probably would have replaced Johanssen rather than Alboreto.