Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur defended the FIA’s decision to delay Formula 1‘s Belgian Grand Prix, admitting it would have been to first “to give them s**t” if an accident had occurred in wet conditions.
The race at Spa-Francorchamps was postponed by over an hour due to bad weather, a move that was criticised by Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Both men complained their race set-ups were made with rain in mind, and were left frustrated as the race started a 16:00 local time, one hour and 20 minutes later than scheduled, when the rain had largely passed.
Hamilton and Verstappen’s opinions were that the decision taken was an overreaction of how changeable weather conditions at the British Grand Prix earlier this month had been handled.
Vasseur came forward to make a case for it being the right call, saying that if an accident had happened amid a scheduled start, teams would have reacted differently
“We can’t blame them because we would be collectively the first ones to give them sh*t if something happened,” the Frenchman told media including Motorsport Week.
“In this sense, we have to respect their decision.
“I can speak frankly because I have one car pushing on the high downforce, one car pushing on the low downforce and I was comfortable to respect their decision because they are taking a huge responsibility also.”
The difference between drivers and team bosses on delayed Belgian GP
Despite Hamilton and Verstappen being on the same page when it came to the delayed start, Vasseur was making a counterpoint, which was shared by Andrea Stella.
The McLaren boss was also lenient on the FIA’s handling of the situation, telling media including Motorsport Week that it had been a sensible course of action.
“I think today the race was managed in a very wise way,” he said, “because we knew that there was a lot of rain coming, and I think in a circuit like this, if you make the calls late, it may be too late, and the outcome could be difficult.
“We always praise the work of the FIA when this is deserved, and I think this is one of the cases in which this should be praised.
“Because I understand that it would be quite entertaining to see cars going in wet conditions, but we all should be wary that the average speed in Spa is so high that the cars just displace such a large amount of water that it’s just impossible to see.”
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