F1 blasted for not calling off 'race'

LONDON • Sunday's rain-swept Belgian Grand Prix will go down in history as Formula One's shortest race, and also as a leading contender for most ridiculous.

Calling it a race will require a mighty stretch of the imagination after a delay of more than three hours with crowds enduring both the cold and heavy rain to see a few processional laps behind the safety car in heavy spray and no overtaking.

Officially, the action lasted all of three minutes and 27 seconds with Red Bull's Max Verstappen the winner - a result effectively decided in Saturday's qualifying. Half-points were then handed out for only the sixth time in F1 history.

The drivers were unequivocally unhappy.

"If you want to get a reward for qualifying, you should get points for qualifying," said four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin.

"If there were actually no race laps, no competition, why should points be given and any result be given, because there was basically no race," asked Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who finished 10th.

"I didn't race, so I didn't deserve the half a point I got, so I don't know why I got it."

The rules say at least two laps are necessary for a race to become official and half points awarded, but Sunday's solution came across as a cynical box-ticking exercise to some and plain wrong to others.

The champagne was sprayed but, apart from George Russell appearing on the podium for the first time for Williams with second place, there was little to celebrate.

Mercedes' seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who finished third, took to Instagram, saying: "We should have just called it quits."

McLaren boss Zak Brown has called for the rules to be overhauled to prevent such a situation happening again. "We wanted to race, our drivers wanted to race and of course, we know you wanted to see a race," he tweeted.

"The regulations state that after you do a few laps, it can be called a race. I think that needs to be reviewed. The outcome should not be a race after three laps behind a safety car... I don't think anyone would say today it felt right calling that a race."

Comparisons were drawn to the 2005 US Grand Prix at Indianapolis, where only six cars started after Michelin-shod cars withdrew for safety reasons and went on to score full points.

That at least went the distance, and overtaking was possible. On Sunday, there never seemed any question of racing, given there was poor visibility due to the horrendous weather conditions and no signs of improvement.

Hamilton also accused F1 of opting for the "money scenario" but International Automobile Federation race director Michael Masi hit back, insisting commercial factors would never play a part in any decision regarding track conditions or racing.

He also said a one-day postponement was not possible as the Dutch Grand Prix takes place this weekend and there was always hope the race could eventually start.

F1 chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali added: "But the problem is that the weather started to be even worse... So it's not really commercial on that, I can guarantee you."

REUTERS