Formula 1 visits Spa just four weeks after racing driver Dilano van 't Hoff died in an accident in the Formula Regional European Championship at the Belgian circuit.

Van 't Hoff, 18, was involved in a multi-car collision in wet conditions in the early part of the Kemmel Straight.

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There is a high chance of rain on Friday and Saturday of the Sprint weekend, so wet weather is likely to affect Qualifying, the Sprint Shootout and Sprint itself.

"At the moment it's constant communication with the FIA following the tragic passing of Dilano in FRECA. The two questions are: Is Spa safe enough? Then, it's a question of the conditions. Motorsport will always be dangerous when you're travelling at this speed," said Russell.

"If you were to put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, for sure Spa is one of the riskier circuits along with Jeddah, Monaco and Suzuka to a degree. Then the combination of the weather, it's very challenging.

"The visibility, we just have no visibility whatsoever. The way I describe it is driving down a motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off. So not really any short-term solutions. I personally think Spa is safe enough, we just need to find a solution for the visibility."

He added: "Fortunately the weather looks better on Sunday, so that will be going ahead. But following recent events, I think the FIA have to be bold with their decisions when it comes to safety and visibility.

"We all want to race but when you're going down that straight at over 200mph and you can't see 50m in front of you, there will be huge incidents. So they have a big responsibility this weekend."

Alonso: Visibility the biggest factor for us

In 2021, just one official lap took place due to heavy rain at Spa and half points were controversially awarded to the top 10 drivers.

The FIA was criticised for its decision-making that weekend as rain also played a role in Qualifying on Saturday, when Lando Norris suffered a big crash at Eau Rouge.

Fernando Alonso, who turns 42-years-old this Saturday, thinks the spray from F1's current bigger and wider cars hinder visibility more than the weather.

"We will keep an eye on visibility, I think that is the biggest factor for us. Grip level is normally fine, no problem," he said.

"Aquaplaning should be under control as well because we don't expect huge levels of rain for standing water. It's just visibility the biggest question mark.

"In Budapest in FP1 when it rained, visibility was borderline so it's not a track-specific thing, it's not just Spa where visibility is lower. It's the nature of the cars right now with the ground-effect and big tyres that spray is bigger than in the past.

"We need to check. It's a Sprint weekend so there is not a risk only of delaying or cancelling one qualifying or one race, we have two qualifying and two races so the risk is a little bit higher than a normal weekend.

"In Hungary I was surprised by the low visibility in FP1 and the speeds in Hungary were low and we were slow in that FP1 but we could not see anything. Here with the speed it just gets worse, it doesn't help, but it's not a Spa problem - it's just how the sport is right now and we need to keep working. FIA is working on that, FOM as well to find solutions on the cars, on the tracks as well. We will try to help on our driving side and try to give as much feedback as possible."

The Aston Martin driver continued: "Our safety has been a priority for the FIA the last few years. It's maybe frustrating for people in the grandstands, for people at home watching TV if not understanding if the circuit hasn't been very wet or it's not very wet why the race cannot start - it's understandable, we have the same frustration in the car because we feel the grip is OK and if we are alone on track we will enjoy driving those conditions.

"But as soon as you are out of pole position or P2, you cannot see anything so you are driving completely blind and that can lead into very dangerous situations. That is something we want to avoid."

Verstappen: I don't think it's track related

Championship leader Max Verstappen also alluded that the cars are a major factor in the rain, rather than the tracks.

"Honestly, I don't think it's really track related. You have dangerous corners, yes, and in the wet there's always more risk, but I think everyone is competent enough to make the right calls. If you can drive, you can drive, and if it's too wet, it's too wet," commented the Red Bull driver.

"Accidents happen unfortunately, and when you look back at the one that happened, it was just extremely unfortunate the way it happened.

"I don't think there's a lot you can do or change for it to be a lot safer because there are also other tracks out there that if you have a crash, you're back onto the track with very low visibility - that can happen again. It's just a bit, I guess, unlucky in a way as well that it has happened at Spa, two times quite close to each other.

"I think now that we have spent quite a bit of time in briefings, and also from his side he's done quite a few races now, I think you also listen to the safety car a bit. I think you will know if it's safe or not.

"But the visibility is going to be bad anyway, otherwise we cannot have any rain races any more. It's bad, but it has been bad for a very long time, so I don't think there is a lot at the moment that we can do about it."

Leclerc calls for Spa track changes

In 2019, Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert died in an incident at Raidillon in dry conditions. A day after his death, Charles Leclerc went on to win the Belgian Grand Prix and dedicated the victory to his friend.

Leclerc was also friends with Jules Bianchi, who was the last F1 driver to die due to an on-track accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver thinks Spa can be altered to be safer for the driver.

"I think there are some changes that will make a difference. First of all, the walls on the straights after Eau Rouge, we should have a bit more space on the left and right," he explained.

"If you lose control of the car, the way it is at the moment, you are bouncing off the walls and have a high chance of finding yourself in the way. We should consider this change in the future.

"To change the layout of Eau Rouge for example, we find ourselves in the season in those particular conditions of being fast on the straights, that's basically everywhere. That's going to be difficult to do anything else. You can always change the layout but I don't think it's fair to say this is what should be done.

"Then, visibility. It's really difficult to put into words what we are seeing, apart from that we see nothing. We are not exaggerating when we say we don't see anything. We really don't see anything when it's raining. This is a really big problem for F1 and motorsport in general.

"Any single-seaters have quite a bit of downforce and quite a lot of spray. This causes quite a lot of incidents just because we cannot react to what's in front. It's easy to say that but much more difficult to find a solution. I know the FIA is on it and trying to do the best on that.

"The last thing is when is it safe to start a race? This is another topic for the FIA to look at closely, especially on a weekend like this when it seems we will have a lot of rain throughout the weekend and to not feel the pressure of starting a race just because we didn't have any running. We could be in that situation this weekend.

"In the end, safety comes first and this needs to be the priority. Us drivers shouldn't complain if we don't have any laps because it's not safe to do so with anything that has happened."

Sky Sports F1's live Belgian GP schedule

Friday July 28
8.55am: Formula 3 Practice
10am: Formula 2 Practice
12pm: Belgian GP Practice One (session starts 12.30pm)
1.55pm: Formula 3 Qualifying
2.50pm: Formula 2 Qualifying
3.35pm: Belgian GP Qualifying build-up
4pm: Belgian GP Qualifying
6pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Saturday July 29
8.55am: Formula 3 Sprint Race
10.30am: Belgian GP Sprint Shootout build-up
11am: Belgian GP Sprint Shootout
12.40pm: Formula 2 Sprint Race
2.30pm: Belgian GP Sprint build-up
3.30pm: BELGIAN GP SPRINT
5pm: Ted's Sprint Notebook

Sunday July 30
7.25am: Formula 3 Feature Race
8.55am: Formula 2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday - Belgian GP build-up
2pm: THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag - Belgian GP reaction
5pm: Ted's Notebook

Next up is the Belgian GP, the final race before F1's summer break - watch all sessions of the Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from July 28-30. Stream the Belgian GP and more with NOW.