Having missed out at the Hungaroring, Giedo van der Garde will be back behind the wheel of💧 a Sauber at this weekend's Be😼lgian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman - eclipsed in his nation's F1 consciousness overnight by the announcement that 16-year old Max Verstappen will make his grand prix debut next season - watched as Adrian Sutil and E🔜steban Gutierrez got mileage under their belts in Budapest practice, but will replace the Mexican in FP1 at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.

For van der Garde,🐼 the return could not come at a꧋ better place, with Spa not only the closest thing to a 'home' track on the F1 schedule, but also one that he, along with the majority of the field, looks forward to driving.

"For me, Spa-Francorchamps is one of the nicest tracks in the world," the former Caterham F1 racer confirmed, "As it is close to the Nꦅetherlands, it is 🧸my home circuit, and I like the track a lot because it is a quick one, with many medium to high speed corners.

"It is not easy to set-up the car there though. You need to have a stable car, especially for the high speed cor🐻ners, and it is a technical circuit because some ಞsectors have several consecutive corners. Last year in Q1 it was raining, and I ended up in P3, which was quite entertaining."

Unlike Sauber team-mate Adrian Sut𓃲il 🙈van der Garde believes that some of Spa's signature sections will still be a blast.

"With this year's new F1 cars, I believe we will have more top speed on the straights, but less downforce in comparison to 2013," he explained, "I think Eau Rouge and Blanchimont will still be flat-out, but my favourite corners are turns 5ജ-7 after the Kemmel straight. The right-left-right combination is quite technical, and you can use different lines there. This is what makes Spa so special."

Despite losing the fir🐭st 90 minutes of the weekend while van der Garde gets his laps, Guti?rrez is also looking forward to the first race back after the summer break.

"It is one of t♔hose tracks which is like an adventure - it goes up and downhill," he explained, "As the straights are quite long, engine power is crucial, which could be a challenge for us, but the weather also plays a huge role at Spa-Francorchamps, and the mixed conditions can add excitement to the race weekend."