Hamilton’s fury over ‘farcical’ Grand Prix

LEWIS HAMILTON last night accused Formula One bosses of putting money first and called on them to refund fans who sat drenched through a ‘farcical’ Belgian Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion was furious after the sport staged just the mandatory two laps required for a race to stand after nearly four hours of dithering in the rain. There was no racing, with the grid following the safety car around for eight minutes. Hamilton, who finished third in the non-event won by his title rival Max Verstappen, said: ‘Today was a farce and the only people to lose out are the fans who have paid good money to watch us race. ‘Of course you can’t do

anything about the weather but we have equipment to tell us what is going on and it was clear the weather wasn’t going to let up. ‘We were sent out for one reason only. Two laps behind a safety car with no possibility of gaining or lose a place is not racing. We should have called it quits, not risked the drivers and, importantly, refunded the fans.’ Half points were awarded for only the sixth time in F1 history, with Verstappen (right), who started on pole, cutting his deficit to Hamilton in the championship table from eight to three points. The circuit was packed with 75,000 fans, paying between £107-£505. Many had left before the ‘race’, which began over three hours after the scheduled start. Hamilton added: ‘F1 made a bad choice. The two laps was just a money scenario. ‘There is a rule that for it to be a legal race there has to be a minimum of two laps. That activates a bunch of things but I don’t know the background politics. ‘My concern is that the fans should get their money back. I don’t know if us doing those two laps means they don’t. We should have better values in F1.’ A suggestion that F1 would have missed out on their £15million hosting fee from race organisers had the two laps not been completed was rebuffed by chief executive Stefano Domenicali, who said they had made their decisions based on the conditions alone. Asked whether the fans would receive a refund, the Italian said: ‘We will look at that with the organisers.’