Hamilton calls the race in Belgium a farce! Alonso didn’t mince words either. Do you agree with them?

It is one thing to race in unbearable and dangerous conditions. But the other is the attitude of Michael Masi and the race directorate itself. The Belgian Grand Prix was simply a bizarre race in many ways. What did Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso, for example, have to say about it? Well, you’d better read it for yourself.

Criticism. Again. And it’s probably no wonder. We want Formula One to be interesting, but then this happens. There was a lot to see in the Belgian Grand Prix, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see the racing. Despite the conditions near the Ardennes Forest at the weekend, that’s obviously a good thing, but the whole race was a bit of an unpleasant chaos.

The legendary Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, gave a telling comment on the whole thing. “I agree about the conditions. The only thing I don’t agree with is why two laps are being run and points are being scored when there was no racing at all.

We didn’t have a chance to score points, I finished 11th. I didn’t do a single green flag lap, so I couldn’t even get any points. It’s shocking, but it’s their decision. And as you could see, it was impossible to race. But there were red flags on the circuit and then you went for the safety car, so how can you give out points for not racing?

Three laps were run just to award points. There can’t be any other reason, the conditions were the same at that point as they were before. It must have been a strange spectacle.”

In fact, as far as the rules and regulations of F1 are concerned, according to article 6.5 of the Sporting Regulations, if the race leader completes less than two laps and the race is not finished but restarted, no points will be awarded.

At least three laps must be completed for teams and drivers to be properly classified in the results. Now another rule needs to be introduced. If this condition is met while failing to complete at least 75% of the race length, the points that drivers receive for finishing will be halved.

And that’s exactly what happened in the Belgian Grand Prix, but it was all accompanied by something that perhaps cannot be precisely defined. There was total chaos. The race directorate first declared the race a non-starter, but the official countdown was on.

This situation was aptly described by commentator Tomáš Richtr. “The fact that the race did not start (illegally) was proved by the case of Sergio Pérez. The race directorate allowed him to start the grand prix despite initial opposition, with Red Bull’s argument being that “the race had not yet started”.

Then came a literal shock when, in one of the communications, the race director explained during a break that the race (if run) would be 39 laps long (instead of the original 44). This was confusion for another, because Michael Masi also argued the number of postponements, and this is a fabrication that has no support in the rules.”

And an hour before the expiry of the time limit, which is set at 3 hours for each race, the race directorate, headed by Michael Masi, stopped the countdown. In fact, the time limit itself was started sometime during the red flags, during the stopped race!

Only one lap was completed when the safety car took to the track for the first time. About two and a half hours later, the safety car took to the track with the monoposts for the second time. Two laps were completed, and then the race was terminated with more red flags.

As it is written above, for proper classification and awarding of points it is necessary to complete at least three laps, although even this is questionable. However, Michael Masi now argues that the second exit was a sincere effort to restart the race. But the conditions were exactly the same, if not worse.

Given this and a series of other decisions that have been made during the Grand Prix, it simply looks as if two laps need to be completed, no matter how, to award points and formally close the race.

“Today was a farce and the only ones who lost out are the fans who paid good money to watch us race,” Hamilton said.

” We were sent out for one reason. Two laps behind the safety car, where you can’t gain or lose a place or provide entertainment for the fans, is not racing. We should have just packed it in, not risked the drivers and most importantly given money back to the fans who are the heart of our sport.”

The FIA, along with race management, could then “blame it on force majeure,” in other words, rain. Because of this, it is also uncertain whether all the fans who got unnecessarily wet in the stands will be refunded their entry fees.

Source:: F1, Tomas Richtr, Mercedes-AMG Petronas