F1 talks about changing rules in October after "farce" at Spa

F1 News

31 August 2021 at 16:16
Last update 31 August 2021 at 18:32
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  • GPblog.com

Formula 1 received a lot of criticism in the aftermath of last Sunday's race at Spa-Francorchamps when the race was cancelled due to heavy rainfall. Fans, drivers and team staff all spoke out against some of the decisions that were made, including the awarding of half points for the classification of Saturday's qualifying.

Existing regulations properly applied

Jean Todt, the president of the FIA, announced today through a press release on his Twitter that the regulations will be reviewed in October, to make sure that the "farce" that happened in Belgium will not happen again. Despite this Todt says that the current rules have been followed correctly: "The race could not be started after the safety car laps and the existing regulations have been applied correctly.

October meeting

"The FIA, together with Formula One and the teams, will carefully review the regulations to see what can be learned and improved for the future," he said. The findings, including the issue of points allocation, will be added to the agenda of the next F1 Commission meeting on 5 October," Todt said.

Everything done

Todt is clear that the FIA made every effort to make the Belgium GP happen on Sunday, but said the weather did not allow it to happen. "This year's Belgian Grand Prix presented an extraordinary challenge to the FIA Formula One World Championship. The lack of visibility due to the haze behind the cars meant that we could not run the entire race in sufficiently safe conditions for the drivers, the marshals and the brave spectators who waited many hours in the race, for whom I am very sorry. The FIA stewards, under the provisions of the International Sporting Code, stopped the race to gain more time, and therefore more opportunities to give the fans an F1 race." So, despite everything, the public didn't get that race.