Lewis Hamilton calls Belgian GP a 'farce'

Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton reacts after taking the third place at the Belgian Grand Prix. (AFP)

Dubai - Meanwhile, FIA race director Michael Masi rejected Hamilton's claims

By Arsh Asthana

Published: Tue 31 Aug 2021, 12:31 AM

Last updated: Tue 31 Aug 2021, 12:47 AM

Lewis Hamilton has criticised the FIA and Formula One’s decision to complete two laps under the Safety Car, saying they were sent out for the sole purpose of meeting the minimum requirements for an official result.

The race was scheduled to begin at 3 pm Central European Time, but was delayed by about three hours due to heavy rain and poor track conditions. The drivers completed two laps under the Safety Car and half points were awarded to the top ten finishers.

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Hamilton believed that although there was no visibility and the conditions made it impossible to conduct a race, the drivers should not have been sent out for the restart as the conditions had not improved.

"Money talks. It was literally the two laps to start the race, it’s all a money scenario,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.

"So everyone gets their money and I think the fans should get theirs back too because unfortunately, they didn't get to see what they came and paid for.

"It's a shame we can't do the race tomorrow and I love this track as well, so sad that we couldn't do this. But today wasn't a race."

"I think the sport made a bad choice today," the seven-time world champion added.

Hamilton later took to Instagram and said that Sunday’s race was “a farce” and that “the only people to lose out are the fans who have paid good money to watch us race.”

"Of course you can't do anything about the weather but we have sophisticated equipment to tell us what's going on and it was clear the weather wasn't going to let up. We were sent out for one reason and one reason only,” he said.

The Mercedes driver went on to say that the fans who showed up for the race should be refunded.

"Two laps behind a safety car where there is no possibility to gain or lose a place or provide entertainment to fans isn't racing. We should have just called it quits, not risked the drivers and most importantly refunded the fans who are the heart of our sport."

Meanwhile, FIA race director Michael Masi rejected Hamilton’s claims and insisted that their only intentions were to try everything they could to run a race.

"We are in constant contact with our official weather provider and there was a window it looked like it was provided there," Masi told Sky Sports F1.

"We have got the requirement to give a 10-minute warning to everyone so it was like 'OK, let's try to see if we can find that window'.

"A number of the teams have said the same thing, they saw that window and could see exactly what we were trying to do. Then the weather came in and got the better of us again."