Todt blames himself for canceled race protocols

[ad_1]

Last month, the Belgian GP only ran two full laps behind the safety car before it received a red flag. It was not picked up, and the results were declared after one lap, with poleman Max Verstappen the winner.

The top 10 received half points, as the regulations only require two racing laps to be completed and it is not specified that they must be under the green flag.

The only change from the top 10 on the original grid was the absence of Sergio Perez, who fell to the rear after a crash before the race.

The awarding of points was one of the many controversial aspects of the event. Todt quickly intervened by promising on the Monday after the race that there would be a proper consideration of the circumstances at the next F1 Commission meeting on October 5, and that the distribution of points would be among the topics.

Todt admits the FIA ​​should have been better prepared for a race lost to bad weather, despite Spa being the first time in 71 years of World Championship history that this has happened.

“I mean, the only thing I blame myself for is we knew it was going to happen,” Todt told Autosport. “So as we knew, maybe we should have had a clearer protocol.

But if not, why did this happen? Because the cars are wider, more downforce, probably not enough testing with extreme rain tires. And then the perception [visibility].

It is impossible in a circuit like Spa. Can you imagine if we would have said, OK, let’s go. On the first, second or third lap, we would have taken the risk of having 15 cars colliding, and we don’t want that.

We want to run in the rain, but at the moment we don’t have the ingredients to run in these conditions.

Todt stressed that there had been a real attempt at the race and that the cars weren’t sent just to race for two laps to qualify the event for points.

“The second attempt was because we had a weather forecast that could make us think it could be possible.

Read also:

Regarding the points controversy, he said: So it’s still a race weekend, and since it’s a race weekend, we have to hand out points.

So what’s the way? You follow the regulations. Maybe we have to think that in such a case then you will have different consequences from the result of the qualification. So we can see what to do. “

Todt admitted he had sympathy for the fans who spent a day in the race and were unable to attend a suitable race.

As a fan, I watched TV and was very frustrated. And I was comfortable, so I can understand the fans who paid for their tickets.

On the other hand, they won’t understand if we ask the drivers to do something that is just in an out of control situation. We don’t want to do this. “

[ad_2]