LEWIS HAMILTON accused F1 chiefs of making a “bad choice” as Max Verstappen won one of the most farcical races in F1 history.
After a rain delay of three hours and 17 minutes, sodden fans in the grandstands witnessed the sport’s shortest-ever race – a three-lap tootle behind the Safety Car that lasted just eight minutes.
Hamilton said: “It was a farce and the only people to lose out are the fans who have paid good money to watch us race.
“Money talks. It was literally the two laps to start the race; it’s an all money scenario.
“So everyone gets their money, and I think the fans should get theirs back too, because unfortunately, they didn’t get to see what they came and paid for.
“I think the sport made a bad choice today.”
The start of this dreary Belgian GP was delayed FOUR times, as race bosses prayed for a break in the weather, which never came.
With light fading deep in the Ardennes, the only way of satisfying F1 rules regarding a classified race result was to complete two laps.
Most read in Motorsport
Once that target had been achieved, instead of the 44 laps it had meant to be – all behind the Safety Car – Race Director Michael Masi hit the stop button.
It means half-points were awarded to the top 10 so Verstappen cut Hamilton’s lead in the championship to three points, with the Brit finishing in third.
It also means that George Russell secured second place – his first podium in F1 after qualifying in second place on the grid the previous day.
However, this race makes the sport look ridiculous on so many levels, particularly to the new fans it strives to attract.
To the man on the street, these are the best drivers in the world and should be able to cope with the tricky conditions, such as poor visibility.
The obligatory three laps to tick the box that would allow this to be classified as an official race leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
Even more so the time it took to complete them, as this race which was due to start at 3pm, eventually was stopped at 6:44pm.
Cynics would suggest it was to help F1 fulfil their ambitions of a now 22-race calendar, or rather their lucrative TV contracts.
It is difficult to escape that view when considering the FIA crucially stopped the clock on their three hour race limit, citing force majeure, with 60 minutes to go.
It was unprecedented but crucially allowed themselves an extra hour to get those laps in before it got dark.
The drenched fans had a further 20 minutes to wait before they were finally put out of their misery and the race was officially ended by Masi.
I feel so very sorry for the fans today. They have been incredible to stick with us… I hope the fans get their money back.
Lewis Hamilton
While they trudged back to their muddy campsites and their soaked tents, there was the added insult of Masi’s decision to hold a podium ceremony.
But there was nothing to celebrate, as this farce proved that this treacherous old race track, its reputation, in these conditions, is simply too dangerous to race at.
There was a reminder of that on Saturday when Lando Norris had a very lucky escape after crashing at 185mph at Eau Rouge.
Just the previous day at the same spot there was a six-car pile up that again saw miraculous escape for all the female racers.
Brit Jake Aitken was hospitalised with severe injuries when he crashed there just a few weeks earlier.
And two years ago, Anthoine Hubert was killed in an F2 race at the next turn.
Yes, motorsport is dangerous and the majority of the drivers are paid a considerable sum of money.
But there is no price on safety, so you can quit all the talk about men versus boys in the wet.
The big questions that need to be addressed is the safety at Spa, although some improvements are due to me made over the winter.
Then there is F1’s scheduling. Moving back the race from 2pm to 3pm local time has been done to try and lure more of the American TV audiences.
However, it has only served to increase the pressure to get the race done before the light fades.
However, it is worth pointing out that the conditions earlier on Sunday were OK for the Formula 3 and the Porsche Super Cup races.
Verstappen says he felt that the F1 race should have started earlier in the day.
He said: “It’s a big shame to not do proper laps, but the conditions were very tricky out there.
“I said at 3.30pm ‘let’s go’, I think the conditions were decent but the visibility was very low.
“I think if we would have started at 3pm we would have had a better chance but, nevertheless, after that it just stayed really wet and it kept raining.
“It’s a win but not how you want to win. Today a big credit goes to all the fans around the track for staying here the whole day in the rain, the cold, windy conditions. They are actually the bigger winners today.
“With recent events you don’t want to risk a big shunt. The fans probably won’t agree, but safety is the priority.
“I just think that when you have days like this, it is better to start at 1pm because otherwise the day drags on, the weather gets worse and it gets dark.” Hamilton also felt the conditions and poor visibility made holding a proper race was too dangerous.
He said: “You couldn’t really see five metres in front of you, the car disappears, so it was very difficult down the straights to even know where that flashing light was.
“You couldn’t even go flat out because you didn’t know what part of the track they would be on.
“It’s a shame because of course I wanted to race and it could have been a great race if it hadn’t rained so hard.”
