Compensation for the Belgian Grand Prix: It rains disappointments

17:39, 25 Dec 2021
11 Comments

It will only get worse. There is no better expression to describe the compensation offered by the organisation of the rained out Belgian Grand Prix. Since the organisation announced the compensation this week more and more ifs and buts are revealed.

Snag

Earlier this week the Belgian organisation announced that all ticket holders will receive a one-year subscription to F1 TV Pro, which will allow them to follow the races in 2022 live. They will also be entered into a lottery to win free tickets for the next Grand Prix. GPblog discovered that visitors who bought a ticket via Verstappen Travel could not take part in the lottery.

Ticket holders in 2021 would also receive an invitation for an exclusive event on August 25, 2022, provided the coronavirus pandemic allows it. Now it becomes clear that there is a small snag. Access to this event is only possible if you are also in possession of a ticket for the race in 2022. It also appears that the free subscription to F1 TV Pro can't be used by everyone. Ticket holders from for example Germany can't use the service because of a rights issue.

No email

After the announcement of the compensation, there were a lot of negative reactions on social media. Moreover, many visitors still complain that they did not receive an email from the Belgian organization. This email is needed for the activation code, which can be used to register for the lottery, the event and F1 TV Pro.

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11 Comments
Lee Ashford 26 December 2021 at 02:06+ 21

If this was silverstone there would have been a track invasion and big protest

Someone made money out of this event. The punters deserve there money back

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Maxipad Netflix Champion 26 December 2021 at 01:34+ 685

Quick: end the race so Maxipad can stay in 1rst place. He can't drive if he is asked to race
FIA has been stealing money and gifting titles this year. Sad!!

Maverick Maverick 26 December 2021 at 01:17+ 107

I think the big scandal here is that points were actually awarded for this farce boosting a guy's Championship points. A SC driving around for few laps... talk about a race not finishing under SC how ironic!

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Stevesyd 26 December 2021 at 24:06+ 36119

Didnt Lewis perform a big media stunt about the fans receiving a refund and offering to contribute himself?
Nothing.
And then his media stunt on justice for the victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster but when the company involved with this building approached Mercedes as a sponsor what did Lewis do?
Nothing.
Yes Lewis, 2 good reasons to continue hiding.

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Cristi 25 December 2021 at 21:01+ 9975

It's a mess, and even more disappointing because Spa is a superb stop on the F1 calendar. People loved coming here at this iconic track (until now), and it's a big shame that something like this happens to put a blemish on the GP.

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kingpeppermint 25 December 2021 at 19:27+ 4407

I don't care to much from who's pockets it's coming i think this is ridiculous, the fans waiting 3 days in the rain should at the very least be refunded, really looks bad on F1 treating their fans like this.

sbinotto masterBlan 25 December 2021 at 17:58+ 10955

to be honest though its obviously very unfair for the people who bought tickets, think from the perspective of the organiser of the gp, where would the compensation money come from

cuz f1 works like this:
owners of circuits/their government (government cuz it could boost the country’s tourism sector) sign deals with f1 and pay f1 money over the course of a few years to host a race

then the owners of circuits/government collect the money for the tickets, now its not easy to answer who is supposed to compensate

even if the organisers feel bad they cant just simply throw out millions of dollars out of their own pocket

and the owners of circuits/government wont have much incentive to take their own money and pay, cuz
1. they arent even making profit from the ticket sales in the first place (considering the cost of setting up, track mantainance, staff to make the event possible, and all the equipment), theyre just hoping that it could boost media coverage towards their country and generate monetary returns from other ways
2. when no one is compensated it doesnt really look bad on them, it looks bad on f1

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Mech Engineer 25 December 2021 at 23:28+ 55107

This is definitely written by someone who truely understands how the financials of an event works!
The event took place. Money has already been spent whether an actual race happened or not.
The money from ticket sales is gone! It’s no longer in the organisers account.
It sounds sort of ‘unfair’ to the people who paid money and didn’t see a race, but where is the money supposed to come from for those who is whinging to be refunded?
It is not the event’s organisers fault that rain caused the race not to be run.

AFewGoodBends 26 December 2021 at 08:47+ 56

Is there no ticket insurance over there?
Most events in Australia offer ticket insurance, if you take it & pay the extra few percent.

If an event is cancelled due to rain or some other reason there's no fight over who pays. The insurance company coughs up & that's pretty much it.

WildWeasel 26 December 2021 at 01:42+ 2327

That's just a load BS excuses. The ticket refunds would have to come out of F1 commercial rights holder (FOWC) coffers, they are the ones who collect worldwide broadcast fees, advert fees, track fees, etc. Since the race was cancelled by the decision of FIA race director, then they are responsible for ticket refunds. In any other type of entertainment, if an event is cancelled, ticket holders are entitled to full refund or an alternate event, it should be no different for F1, they could have held the race on Monday, but they refused, therefore ticket holders are due full cash refund and not some subscription to some crappy web streaming channel. F1 will not refund tickets because they know individual ticket holders will not band together and sue F1 in the courts, called a class-action lawsuit, to get their refunds plus any court costs

King 26 December 2021 at 04:39+ 2209

Who cares F1 will do anything for more like Netflix champion from Holland everything they do now is about money ? even fix the championship customers means nothing to them.
Rich boys don’t care ???