{"id":12806,"date":"2024-10-04T10:55:50","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T10:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=12806"},"modified":"2024-10-04T10:55:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T10:55:52","slug":"thierry-boutsen-celebrates-f1-comeback-at-spa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=12806","title":{"rendered":"Thierry Boutsen celebrates F1 comeback at Spa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Belgian Thierry Boutsen (67) is a triple Grand Prix winner in Formula 1. In last weekend\u2019s Masters Racing Legends, ahead of the Spa Six Hours, Boutsen made his comeback in an F1 race, on the track where he made his Formula 1 debut in 1983.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it 31 years ago already?\u201d Boutsen reflects on the question \u2013 when did you last drive a Formula 1 at Spa? \u2013 and smiles that characteristically modest, held-back smile of his. Spa is where his career in F1 started in 1983, and ended, with Jordan in 1993. What should have been a beautiful farewell race after ten years in F1, was cut short when his Jordan 193 failed on the very first lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Carlo Senten\/Masters Historic Racing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is true that Spa often was synonymous with mechanical difficulties during my time in F1, but I will not complain too much. I was on the podium here in 1988<\/a> with the Benetton, placing third.\u201d Both Boutsen and teammate Nannini were disqualified post-race for fuel irregularities after inspection. In 1989, Boutsen finished fourth in his first year with Williams-Renault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Carlo Senten\/Masters Historic Racing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cF1 is the best\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Boutsen is completely relaxed in the Masters Historic Racing tent, as he waits for his second race. \u201cIt is indeed much more fun driving a Formula 1 car without the pressure to perform, as you endure it during your professional career. I\u2019m only doing the one race, I have no ambition to restart a career in historic racing. But this was simply a terrific opportunity, to be able to drive an F1 car here.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have to say, I needed to readjust a bit at first, it didn\u2019t all come naturally as it used to. But after a few laps, I felt the old habits come back. It\u2019s like riding a bicycle, you don\u2019t forget how to do it. And for a racer, nothing beats the driving feeling you experience in a Formula 1 car. It\u2019s the best thing you will ever drive. Of course, you leave a bit of margin here, but it\u2019s still a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo Carlo Senten\/Masters Historic Racing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tom Pryce Shadow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Boutsen is driving a Shadow DN5, raced by Tom Pryce in the 1975 season. It was the year the young British talent won the Race of Champions in the Shadow-Cosworth, held outside of the F1 championship, in March at Brands Hatch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo Carlo Senten\/Masters Historic Racing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Thierry Boutsen, this generation of Cosworth-powered F1s precedes the car he made his debut in. \u201cEven if my Arrows had a Cosworth engine as well.\u201d During our chat, the Belgian stresses how much he is here to just have a bit of fun, but in his second race, we see none of that. Boutsen had a troublesome first race, relegating him to the back of the grid for the second race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo Carlo Senten\/Masters Historic Racing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From the back to the front<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In typical Spa weather \u2013 five minutes of rain followed by sun, and then more rain \u2013 the Belgian wastes no time. In the matter of just a few laps, he has carved his way to the front, showing his wet-weather skills are still intact. In the end, he finishes fourth among the faster cars and second in his class. That\u2019s just the thing with these guys, the talent will always shine through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlights here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belgian Thierry Boutsen (67) is a triple Grand Prix winner in Formula 1. In last weekend\u2019s Masters Racing Legends, ahead of the Spa Six Hours, Boutsen made his comeback in an F1 race, on the track where he made his Formula 1 debut in 1983.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,104],"tags":[884,583,121,120,941,205,1522,269,133,281],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-12806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historic-racing","category-news-pictures-videos","tag-arrows","tag-benetton","tag-formula-1","tag-historic-racing","tag-jordan","tag-masters-historic-racing","tag-shadow","tag-spa","tag-thierry-boutsen","tag-williams","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Senten-Images-Spa6h2024-1937-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12829,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12806\/revisions\/12829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12806"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fthb-sponsors&post=12806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}