Several Formula 1 drivers defended the FIA race director’s decision to delay the start of the rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix.
The 80-minute delay before last week’s race and decision not to use a traditional standing start prompted criticism from some, including drivers Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
However other drivers said the FIA was right to prevent them racing in extremely low visibility conditions following fatal crashes in similar circumstances, notably when Dilano Van ‘T Hoff died in a Formula Regional European Championship race at the same track two years ago.
Pierre Gasly said race control told drivers they would err on the side of caution after observing Isack Hadjar’s collision with Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the rain during the previous round at Silverstone.
“It’s always easier to explain why you’ve been too conservative than explaining why you put the drivers in dangerous conditions,” he said. “At Silverstone we saw a driver unfortunately hitting another car from not seeing where he was going which to me has nothing to do with racing.
“We want to see overtaking. We want to see skills out there in the wet and not a race which can be decided on whether you see what’s going on two metres in front of your car or not.
“At Spa, they said before the weekend they’ll probably be more conservative, knowing what happened in Silverstone and knowing the history of the racetrack.
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“Were we on the slightly conservative side? Yes. Can we complain about the fact they were conservative? I don’t think so. And will we work with them to help them make a slightly more precise judgement and [improving] the show and the driving on track in these conditions? Sure thing.”
Gasly expects further discussions over the race this weekend but stressed he thought criticism of race control’s decision was unfair.
“I’m sure we’re going to talk about it in the drivers’ briefing and in the next [wet] race they’ll do even better and we’ll find the right adjustment.
“But I don’t think it’s really fair to say they’ve done a bad job. I think it is explainable and they were on the safer side this time. We’ll work on that.
“I’m sure as drivers we want to drive in the wet, we’re fine, it’s always exciting. Obviously you don’t want to end up in a situation where you don’t see and you actually end up crashing in the middle of the Kemmel straight and having another incident you need to explain to another family. I think it’s a fine line and we’ll work with the FIA and I am sure it’s going to get better over time.”
Race winner Oscar Piastri said drivers had told the FIA to be conservative when deciding whether a wet track is safe enough to race on.
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“In the last few years we’ve been giving our feedback to the FIA about what we think is acceptable and what’s not,” he said. “It is always much worse in the car than it looks on TV and I think the FIA has done a very good job of listening to us and taking that feedback on board.
“We asked for them to be, if anything, on the conservative side. Yes, you could argue that we were [too conservative], but again, we would much rather that than be the opposite.
“The feeling in this room would be pretty different if we had a big crash last week. So, again, we’ll work with the FIA and fine-tune that, but I think we were on the right side of cautious.”
Esteban Ocon recalled his experience of almost hitting a stationary car in blind spray on Spa’s high-speed Kemmel straight (below) when he raced in the Formula Renault Eurocup, the forerunner to FREC.
“The first year I went to Spa was 2012,” he said. “I was at the back of the grid and it was a wet race.
“I couldn’t see a thing, basically, similar to what happened to Isack, for example, when he crashed into Kimi, except that we were in Spa. I was [25th] or something like that and I tried to look to the right to see if there was some clear vision ahead and no spray.
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“I backed off, I was maybe in fourth or fifth gear, so it’s probably like 160, 170 [kilometres per hour]. And then the moment I pulled to the right, I basically crossed a car that was parallel to the track and I just saw him when I crossed his path.
“But if I was on the left, it would have been similar. So I would have probably had a massive injury from that. So I’ve been in those situations, it’s not any fun.”
He said allowing drivers to race in conditions where such a crash can happen is not an acceptable risk.
“I think what the FIA did was the correct thing for Spa,” he said. “We don’t want to race any more in conditions where we are not able to see two metres ahead. It’s just calling for disaster to happen again.
“We’ve lost enough drivers in those kind of conditions, and that’s not something we want to see.”
2012 Formula Renault Eurocup Spa race two crash
This article will be updated.
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2025 Belgian Grand Prix
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