The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps has been delayed indefinitely as rain has prevented it to get started at the scheduled time. Two hours after the normal starting moment, no racing has happened yet.
There's always spray when there's rain. It never was a pathetic excuse before to not race...
What I understand is that they raced in conditions like this before, even worse ones...
It wasn't 2007 European Grand Prix conditions. And even then the main issue was people using intermediates...
I think the ambient sunlight in the background must be considered when we compare past monsoon type races. Spa was very foggy and dark today.
No it wasn’t foggy at all. And the light was also not really an issue.
That’s the problem I have with this. If this becomes the new norm, then it basically means the end of rain racing.
This is quite foggy if you ask me. And keep in mind F1 always adjusts the cameras to brighten the image and reduce noise as needed.
Very much so. Plus adding to that, The trees help hold the mist over the race track, somewhere like Silverstone the mist can spread and blow away. the whole of spa has trees either side and will trap the mist and spray right in the way.
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Let's be honest here, with all the bashing, we're forgetting a simple truth.
Today would go down as a memorable race whatever would happen. The decision to 'cancel' the race and just fulfill some bureaucratic rule by doing some 4 laps may go down obviously as a memorable and 'dubious' race - the other side of the coin is that if they DID have a race, then we could have had a serious accident, perhaps even a fatal one.
Fact is, decisions made by the stewards mean drivers kept their lives, teams kept their cars in one piece, and for their 'effort' points were given.
the crowd being disappointed is a form of acceptable 'damage' in my opinion.
Either way, let's hope this also helps to have people forget their nonsense of the past weeks/months.
Hamilton got lucky and 'served' win dinner on a plate by the FIA according to many, and perhaps with a bit of reason.
However, let's be fair - despite him doing his work on saturday, Max was given the win today, he needed do nothing.
He has come back close to Hamilton without any real effort.
This is just how the sport goes, but that - imo - goes for what happened in Silverstone too.
So let's just take this weekend as one that goes down as one of the most confusing races in history,
and let it be what it is - a race result.
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"
I believe there could be racing, is wet Eau Rouge the problem? Double yellows from turn one until the Kemmel Straight, or a kind of sector Virtual Safety Car like in FIA WEC.
It would be better than watch a procession which gave half points.
The thing that started me wondering today was when they decided that at one point there was 39 laps left, because all those failed starts counted as laps. Wow. Who would have known? We have got some geniuses at the helm now. Bracing for more crazy weekends/races.
I believe there could be racing, is wet Eau Rouge the problem? Double yellows from turn one until the Kemmel Straight, or a kind of sector Virtual Safety Car like in FIA WEC.
It would be better than watch a procession which gave half points.
The problem wasn’t the track, it was lack of visibility for trailing drivers and marshals.
The new cars next year may (or may not) make the spray situation worst.
Let's be honest here, with all the bashing, we're forgetting a simple truth.
Today would go down as a memorable race whatever would happen. The decision to 'cancel' the race and just fulfill some bureaucratic rule by doing some 4 laps may go down obviously as a memorable and 'dubious' race - the other side of the coin is that if they DID have a race, then we could have had a serious accident, perhaps even a fatal one.
Fact is, decisions made by the stewards mean drivers kept their lives, teams kept their cars in one piece, and for their 'effort' points were given.
the crowd being disappointed is a form of acceptable 'damage' in my opinion.
Either way, let's hope this also helps to have people forget their nonsense of the past weeks/months.
Hamilton got lucky and 'served' win dinner on a plate by the FIA according to many, and perhaps with a bit of reason.
However, let's be fair - despite him doing his work on saturday, Max was given the win today, he needed do nothing.
He has come back close to Hamilton without any real effort.
This is just how the sport goes, but that - imo - goes for what happened in Silverstone too.
So let's just take this weekend as one that goes down as one of the most confusing races in history,
and let it be what it is - a race result.
Totally agree and just close this topic and move on
What makes me sad is remembering the classic wet races, (Spain 96 and Japan 07 come to mind as very wet races) knowing they are never going to happen again, we won’t know who the best drivers in the wet are anymore. I understand the reasons for not getting underway but to classify that as a race is ludicrous, abandon the race or race under green flag.
What makes me sad is remembering the classic wet races, (Spain 96 and Japan 07 come to mind as very wet races) knowing they are never going to happen again, we won’t know who the best drivers in the wet are anymore. I understand the reasons for not getting underway but to classify that as a race is ludicrous, abandon the race or race under green flag.
In 07 they had TC...wonder if not having TC plays a part in today's decision
What makes me sad is remembering the classic wet races, (Spain 96 and Japan 07 come to mind as very wet races) knowing they are never going to happen again, we won’t know who the best drivers in the wet are anymore. I understand the reasons for not getting underway but to classify that as a race is ludicrous, abandon the race or race under green flag.
In 07 they had TC...wonder if not having TC plays a part in today's decision
07 also had narrower tyres and not a corner where there was a huge chance of a high speed crash and being stationary on track while oncoming traffic couldn’t react or take evasive action. Even a yellow while a crash was happening wouldn’t prevent a 200 km/h car t-boning a stationary one. At any other high speed corner you just crash out of the way or it’s very obvious that there is a crash. In eau Rouge, with the spray, it’s not just a possibility, but with all the crashes in the past two years, a certainty.
Sad to NOT have another "instant Spa classic", sad that the fans didn't get to watch the spectacle.
I am happy, however, that we didn't watch another multi-car pileup at the top of Eau Rouge. Spa is best as a "drying" circuit. No one loves the hydroplane lottery of a full downpour race.
Not only did saturday show Norris' gigantic crash, and just how dangerous things are to begin with but especially Eau Rouge,
the fact remains that only a few seasons ago, we had, exactly at that corner, with similar movement, a fatal F2 accident where we lost Hubert and left the other driver in grave danger, a miracle that that driver survived and isn't living on a machine and fed through a tube.
and then we have the explosive combination of Verstappen-Hamilton, Russell in a mix where one would say he 'doesn't belong', and problematic weather circumstances.
i'll repeat; i don't think there would have been a single doubt that we would have had a big crash if the race would have been had, even in much less strong rain.
it was always going to be a very huge question mark whether it was acceptable to even start. and then would it have been a standing or a rolling start?
instead, we had drivers complain about visability, and the FIA did listen to them.
Yes, unfortunately, we did not have an exciting race.
But again, FIA made sure we did not have a loss of life today or a f1 driver permanently in a wheelchair.
That includes any driver on the grid, so that means Hamilton, Verstappen, Russell all could have ended up in a horrible accident.
It is what it is, but I can't for a moment be negative towards the FIA's decision.
Perez' showed that you just really don't have a chance in the conditions we had.
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"
Not only did saturday show Norris' gigantic crash, and just how dangerous things are to begin with but especially Eau Rouge,
the fact remains that only a few seasons ago, we had, exactly at that corner, with similar movement, a fatal F2 accident where we lost Hubert and left the other driver in grave danger, a miracle that that driver survived and isn't living on a machine and fed through a tube.
Tbf, Eau Rouge is one of the historic and iconic turns of all circuits. It has seperated the men from the boys, simply because in the past some drivers could take it flat out flirting with losing control of the car. When a car loses control at Eau Rouge, high chance it results into massive shunts with injuries and fatalities as a result.
In the past it used to be gravel traps along Eau Rouge, but nowadays it has changed to an asphalted runoff section that’s also meant for the exit of the old pitlane. The problem going off into the tire barrier is ricocheting back onto the race track. That section is a flatout uphill blind section, so a driver can’t see what’s happening on after the crest on top of Eau Rouge. When you are hitting those speeds, there’s no chance to take any avoiding action besides driving yourself into the tire barrier yourself. With the conditions in the race, that’s even more difficult with the bad visibility and the tricky conditions.
They changed parts of Eau Rouge, but they haven’t done enough safety wise. Cars however, become faster and faster. The Spa circuit needs to improve safety standards at Eau Rouge, but that will cost a lot of money. Potential risk is F1 no longer accept contract terms with Spa, because it’s too expensive to go there post safety improvements.
I’ve watched f1 since the mid eighties and seen races where they should not have raced. I think today they should not have raced, but that’s not important. Much more important, the team in race control should have had the courage to acknowledge this and not pretend this was/is a Grand Prix. No points should be awarded. No wins recorded. When they do this they devalue the “sport” as a whole. Oh well, it’s not as if that hasn’t happened before.
We want to see a race. That didn’t happen today.
Hopefully there is a review process and someone has the courage to annul the results. No Grand Prix, no winner, no points. No one deserves those honours for today. I think it’s more honorable to have it this way.
