Lewis Hamilton: The Belgian Grand Prix was a ‘farce’

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This year’s race at Spa will go down in history as the only Formula One race without racing

Lewis Hamilton has criticized the aborted Belgian Grand Prix as a “farce” and accused Formula 1 of ridiculing the way it ran the rain-hit race.

Hamilton said the drivers were sent two laps behind the safety car just to ensure an official result.

“We should have called it smoking cessation, not risky drivers, and more importantly refunding the fans who are the heart of our sport,” he wrote on Instagram.

“There was never a moment today when we would have been able to race,” he added.

F1 rules specify that the field must complete two cycles of races in order to be awarded points.

“Money talks. It was literally two laps to start the race,” Hamilton said on Sky. “The sport has made a poor choice today.”

Hamilton agreed that the conditions made it impossible to run the race due to poor visibility on the high-speed track, but said there was no reason to send the cars back because conditions had not improved.

George Russell earned his first podium thanks to his thrilling lap during Saturday’s qualifiers

The race was postponed half an hour from its scheduled start time of 14:00 GMT. The drivers then completed two rounds at 14:30 GMT before being called back to the pit.

Then there was a delay of nearly three hours before another two laps ran behind the safety car at 17:17 BST, after which the race was called off.

The FIA’s governing body rejected Hamilton’s allegations, saying the plan was to do everything possible to try to hold a race, without any other considerations.

Race director Michael Massey said the cars were sent out last time “to see what the conditions were like”.

He added, “We were all aiming for a window we thought was in there. There was a weather band where we thought we could get into some races. But you all saw how quickly the weather changed in this place and the weather deteriorated so quickly we couldn’t.”

Formula 1 said in a statement that it “disappointed all fans at the track and at home,” adding: “The weather conditions unfortunately did not improve enough to complete more laps.”

Hamilton likened the situation to the canceled Australian Grand Prix last year, when Formula 1 flew to Melbourne as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world.

Hours before the Australian event was called off, Hamilton expressed his “shock” that the sport was holding on to the race, and when asked why, he replied: “Cash is king”.

On Sunday, he said at the official press conference in Belgium: “We are in Melbourne last year, there are some similarities with the way it went down today, but at least everyone is safe.

“I don’t know all the politics in the background, but my biggest concern is that the fans are likely to get their money back, and I don’t know if, by doing those two tournaments, it means they don’t. We have better values ​​than that as a sport.”

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said Formula 1 needed to “review” the situation and added: “We need a better solution as a sport.

“I don’t think anyone would say today that they felt it was right to name this race.”

The rules state that half the points are awarded if at least two rounds are completed and less than 75% of the raced distance.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen declared victory, ahead of Williams’ George Russell and Hamilton. Verstappen trimmed Hamilton’s championship lead to three points and Russell scored his first podium finish as a result of his impressive performance in finishing second in qualifying on Saturday.

Question marks on points prizes

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso said it was wrong to award points when there were no races.

He said, “For some of them it was a little early in Christmas, because there were some presents that were given today with some people, because we didn’t race but you still got the position and the points. It’s a bit shocking.”

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who was ranked fifth, was one of a number of other drivers who agreed. “Obviously it wasn’t a race, so we shouldn’t get points,” the German added, adding that receiving points was “really weird”.

Alonso was one of the many drivers who expressed sympathy with the fans, who were out for hours in bad weather and did not see the Grand Prix.

“It is sad for the people,” he said. “With this weather, they’ve always been supportive, and after this pandemic, now it’s so nice to see them and when you can’t give them something, it’s so sad. A very strange day today.”

Visibility was an ongoing problem as drivers tried to follow the safety car around the circuit

All the drivers agreed that the conditions were too dangerous for the race.

Verstappen said: “It wasn’t quite right. Maybe the fans won’t agree with what happened today but you just have to think about safety in the end.

“When you can’t see where you’re going and you can’t see where the car is in front of you, you can’t race that way.”

Hamilton added: “I couldn’t come out straight because I had no idea where George was. Eau Rouge was very difficult and it would be the worst thing if we had an accident like with Lando. [Norris] Yesterday and we weren’t able to see there was a driver in the middle of the road.”

“Maybe we were going straight down the strait with our eyes closed at some points because that’s how it would have been at the start of the race and it could have been a mess,” Russell said.

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