Verstappen on Spa safety: 'Otherwise we can't have rain races anymore'
- Toby McLuskie
Ahead of the Formula 1 weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, several F1 drivers spoke out about the safety of the circuit. In the wake of the tragic accident of 18-year-old Dilano van 't Hoff, the subject came under a magnifying glass, but according to Max Verstappen, there is not much the sport can do to make the iconic circuit safer.
Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez, among others, commented that it is not up to them to worry about the track and that drivers should simply trust the race management. Verstappen fully concurred with the words of his colleagues and stressed that the sport is already doing all it can to make the circuits as safe as possible.
Verstappen on Spa-Francorchamps safety
"There are always things that can be done better, but we are also racing in Monaco, which I think is way more dangerous than here. But we race there because it's deemed safe enough. Accidents happen, unfortunately. And honestly, when you look back at the accident that happened, it's just extremely unfortunate the way it happened," Verstappen explained to various media including GPblog.
He continued: "I don't think there's a lot you can do or change for it to be a lot safer, because there are also other tracks out there that if you have a crash and you're back onto the track and there's very low visibility, that can happen again. It's just a bit, I guess, unlucky in a way as well that it happens at Spa. Two times quite close to each other."
The Red Bull Racing driver added that drivers have to trust the race management in such conditions. "You also listen to the safety car a bit. You think he will know if it's safe or not. But the visibility is going to be bad anyway, otherwise, we cannot have any rain races anymore," Verstappen said.