Lewis doesn’t think fans should soak up the cost of Spa farce
LEWIS HAMILTON called for Formula One fans at SpaFrancorchamps to get their money back, after the Belgian Grand Prix was called off after just two laps behind the safety car – the fault of a never-ending weekend of rain.
That makes it the shortest race in F1 history with half points awarded, effectively for qualifying. This was good news for Max Verstappen, who was on pole, and especially for George Russell who sensationally took Williams’ first front row start at Spa in 20 years and logged the team’s best result since 2014.
Lando Norris was lucky to walk away with just a sore elbow after he crashed his McLaren at the top of Eau Rouge in Q3 qualifying. He had set the pace in the first two sessions, but touched a slippery white line nearing the top of the hill and over-corrected.
The resurfacing of that part of the circuit hasn’t helped, and it was also the scene of a huge and terrifying multi-car accident in the W Series race, from which the six female drivers involved were extremely lucky to walk away.
Come Sunday, Sergio Perez found the conditions even more tricky when he spun off on the formation lap and smashed his Red Bull’s suspension.
Due to the race’s delayed start, team manager Jonathan Wheatley successfully lobbied the FIA to let the squad repair the car, but it was all for nothing. Perez was classified last, having qualified P7. When the five red lights finally went out, Haas’ Nikita Mazepin set the fastest lap, yet this was, of course, behind the safety car – which tells you everything you need to know about Mazepin.
Given the impenetrable spray and aquaplaning conditions, it is completely correct the race was red flagged but, as Hamilton said, one feels for spectators who sat in the pouring rain for at least three hours with nothing to enjoy but soggy chips and mayonnaise. I suspect if Hamilton had been on pole, not local favourite Verstappen, the mood might have been less good humoured.
By recording two laps – the minimum required to classify a race, according to the rules – Formula One has fulfilled its commercial and sporting obligations.
It was a somewhat cynical display, and to have a podium after that struck me as farcical. As Sky’s perma-filling commentator David Croft joked, the national anthems took longer than the race. Verstappen and Russell were happy, but the third man on the podium – Britain’s Hamilton – said what everyone else was thinking.
‘Money talks. And it was literally, the two laps to start the race,’ he said. ‘So everyone gets their money, and I think
the fans should get theirs back too. Of course I wanted to race and think it could have been a great race if it hadn’t rained so hard.’
Russell had no issue taking his trophy for second place. ‘It doesn’t matter. We absolutely nailed it yesterday and here we are standing on the podium,’ he said.
‘We don’t often get rewarded for great qualifyings and we absolutely did today. But first, I just want to say sorry to all the fans. We were all in the same boat.’
Hamilton, whose championship lead has now been cut to three points, said there would be ‘discussions’ with those in charge of F1. ‘I think the sport made a bad choice today,’ judged the seventime champion. ‘It’s a shame we couldn’t do the race tomorrow’.
While race director Michael Masi said there was ‘no ability’ to run the race yesterday, he didn’t elaborate as to why, other than to say it was impossible for a ‘whole range’ of reasons.
Masi also denied the cars went off for their two laps, at 18:17, purely to tick a box in the contracts. ‘We were in constant contact with our official weather [forecasters] and there was a window that looked like it was provided there,’ he said. ‘Then the weather came [back] in and got the better of us.
‘Safety is paramount. We gave every opportunity within the rulebook to give us the best opportunity to complete a race, unfortunately on this occasion we could not go the full distance.’
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said the sport must find a better solution in the future.
‘I don’t think anyone would say it felt right calling that a race, so we will work on this and hope that something like this doesn’t happen again,’ he said.
Team principal Andreas Seidl added: ‘We have to accept it, because the only alternative to 100 per cent guarantee you can race is to do an indoor race.’
I think the sport made a bad choice and it’s a shame we couldn’t race tomorrow