Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix was, perhaps predictably, another case of the weather literally putting a dampener on things.
With typical Ardennes weather coating the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the race was delayed for over an hour before getting underway behind the Safety Car.
However, the race did actually take place – unlike the 2021 edition, which was called off after just a handful of laps behind the Safety Car with the rain falling hard.
This time around, the delay did enough damage to the races of drivers such as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who both had tried to anticipate the wet weather with set-ups tailored to such conditions.
The reigning champion was irritated that the thought that went into Red Bull’s specific plan, knowing it would be wet, was, if you’ll pardon the pun, blown out of the water
“On the Intermediates of course, we made a choice with the set-up, and then they only allow us to drive in almost slick conditions, so yeah, that’s a bit disappointing,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “Of course we spoke out for Silverstone to be a little bit more cautious with the decisions, but this was then the other extreme for me.
“And then of course the choice that we made with the set-up of the car, was then of course the wrong one, because they didn’t allow us to race in the wet. Once we got to the dry tyres, we were just too slow in the straight.”
It’s rare that Verstappen and Hamilton are on the same page with things, but as real racers, their opinions aligned as one as the seven-time F1 champion also expressed his discontent. “We obviously started the race a little too late, I would say,” Hamilton agreed. “I kept shouting, ‘It’s ready to go, it’s ready to go’. And they kept going round and round and round. “So I think they were probably overreacting from the last race – where we asked them not to restart the race too early because visibility was bad.
“I think this weekend, they just made it a bit too much the other way. Because we didn’t need a rolling start. Yeah, my car was set up for [the wet-weather racing conditions] as well. They waited for it to dry.”
Hamilton added that race control “definitely could have done a standing start. Especially at the end there. It was almost a dry line. It was hot in the spray. So definitely could have done it.”
Did F1 overreact from Silverstone’s rain-soaked race?
The Silverstone issue revolved around complaints from drivers that the wet weather had become too extreme to race at times, and Hamilton, like Verstappen, believed that the issue this time was that the caution absorbed from that experience was too full-on in Spa.
“I think it was just a reaction to Silverstone – we sat down and spoke about it – and the drivers said in the last race we shouldn’t have restarted,” he reasoned. “So I think they just focused on visibility — as soon as someone said visibility up ahead was really bad, which it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t as bad as the last race.”
The incident begs the question: why have wet weather compounds if no racing will take place in conditions suitable for them?
This year, Formula E has had a run of four separate race weekends affected by rain in the race. It has caused significant strife for the drivers, with the all-weather Hankook treaded tyre being unable to suffice when it rains. However, despite some delays, races have gone ahead, meaning that despite the scepticism on the effectiveness of the rubber, fans have been treated to on-track action.
Has it made some of the racing a bit too cautious, and perhaps an indicator that the early leader will be the winner? On some occasions, yes, but not on others.
But has it seemed to go ahead more than F1? Despite shortening some qualifying sessions, yes, it has certainly been compared to Belgium.
There will always be that fine line between letting drivers race and saying ‘enough’s enough’ when the rain falls too hard. This race was probably not that occasion. There will, of course, always be the additional element of ensuring fans who have spent hard-earned money to watch the race will see action on track, and what constitutes good even conditions to enable a safe race for them to watch.
With McLaren boss Andrea Stella defending the decision to delay the race, there will naturally continue to be divided opinions on what the right course of action is for instances like this, but many drivers and some fans may feel that the stewards most certainly rained on their parade.
READ MORE – Motorsport Week’s F1 2025 Belgian GP Driver Ratings
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