Verstappen wins bizarre Belgian Grand Prix

Red Bull driver wins rain-affected Belgian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen was announced the winner of an abandoned Belgian Grand Prix as continuous downpour led to only two racing laps being completed behind the safety car. As per FIA regulations, since the cars completed two laps under the Safety Car and it was less than 75% of the race, the top 10 finishers were awarded half the points they would normally get by finishing in the top 10. Due to the conditions and Safety Car being deployed, the final race order remained more or less the same from the starting grid position from qualifying except for Red Bull‘s Sergio Pérez.

Pérez had the worst start to the race as the Mexican slid around Les Combes and plowed his car into the barriers on his way to the grid. He was initially ruled out of the Grand Prix, given the damage sustained by his Red Bull. Due to the persistent rain, the start of the race was delayed and after consultation with the FIA, Red Bull were told that if they could fix Pérez’s car by the start of the race, the Mexican could join, although he would require a pit lane start, which meant he would start last behind the other pit lane starter, Kimi Räikkönen. Regarded as one of the best mechanics in the paddock, the Red Bull crew once again worked overtime and within an hour and a half, Pérez had his car ready for racing, that was if the race ever got underway!

The eventful result also meant that George Russell scored his first podium for Williams Racing, taking 9 points home. And with Perez dropping down the grid, it meant Russell’s teammate Nicholas Latifi scored a point too, giving Williams a back-to-back double points finish. The bizarre result also gave McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo his best finish with his new team at P4, followed by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who took 5 points home for his P5. Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc, Nicholas Latifi and Carlos Sainz rounded off the point scoring positions. Each driver took home half the points the normally would for finishing in the top 10.

The race saw a delayed start with persistent rainfall that initially had the FIA pushed back the race by five minutes, four times. After initially getting underway behind the Safety Car, racing was stopped after two laps due to poor visibility and track conditions. After red flagging the session, the cars were instructed to return to the pit lane and the drivers to their garages as the fans stayed on in the grand stands, hoping for some action. Unfortunately, there wasn’t to be any. Two hours after the race was schedule to start, FIA Race Director Michael Masi said they had stopped the race clock to give a chance for the race to take place. 

After multiple updates and trips around the track for the Safety Car, the stewards finally decided racing would resume for an hour rather than have a specific number of laps, and that racing would resume three hours and ten minutes after the original start time. Once the cars did get on the track, the starting grid was the same, and Sergio Pérez joined the remaining 18 cars on the grid from the pit lane along with Alfa Romeo‘s Kimi Räikkönen. Behind the Safety Car, after doing two laps of the Spa circuit, excessive aquaplaning and poor visibility led to the Race Director calling off the race. It meant Formula One’s shortest ever Grand Prix came to a halt under the strangest circumstances. Verstappen’s weird victory means he has cut down Hamilton’s lead to a mere three points now, and Red Bull have caught up to Mercedes in the constructors’ championship as well, being seven points adrift. While McLaren takes a two-point lead from Ferrari in third place, further down the grid, Alpine now have an eight-point lead over AlphaTauri, who lead by 17 points from Aston Martin. Williams’ consecutive double points finish also means that they now have a comfortable margin of 17 points from ninth place Alfa Romeo.

Over the next few days and even weeks, maybe, a lot will be spoken about whether it was necessary to even to the two laps under those treacherous conditions. Although the FIA did put safety before all else, as it should be, they also had a duty to try to get the race underway to get any sort of result possible, at the end, when it was unlikely and drivers’ safety was at risk and a result was somewhat possible, the decision was taken accordingly. The general consensus across the paddock from the majority of the drivers was that the conditions were too poor to race, and if they did go ahead, it would be hazardous to their safeties. At the circuit where we lost Antoine Hubert in 2019, the officials decided to do the sensible thing and call off the race, and although the duration of the decision making will be questioned, no doubt it was the correct one.

After the disappointment of non racing at Belgium, racing moves on to Zandvoort in Netherlands next week before heading to the Temple of Speed in two weeks to close out the triple header.