{"id":29937,"date":"2025-07-29T12:22:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T12:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/29937\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T12:22:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T12:22:23","slug":"max-verstappen-and-lewis-hamilton-slam-race-organisers-over-start-to-belgian-grand-prix-wet-weather-safety-car-reaction-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/29937\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton slam race organisers over start to Belgian Grand Prix, wet weather, safety car, reaction, video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple world champions Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both accused race organisers of being overcautious on Sunday when the start of the Belgian Grand Prix was delayed by 80 minutes<\/a> following heavy rain.<\/p>\n

Four-time world champion Verstappen said he believed that instead of suspending the race after one formation lap behind the Safety Car, Race Control should have kept the field out on the track to clear standing water.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt wasn\u2019t even raining,\u201d he said, referring to the decision taken at the scheduled race start time of 1500 local time (1300 GMT).<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, between Turns One and Five, there was quite a bit of water. \u201cBut if you do two or three laps behind the Safety Car, then it would have been a lot more clear — and the rest of the track was ready to go anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a shame. I knew that they would be a bit more cautious because of Silverstone, but this also didn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, it\u2019s better to say \u2018let\u2019s wait until it\u2019s completely dry\u2019 and we\u2019ll start on slicks because this is not really wet weather racing for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Instead of staying out, however, the field were taken back into the pit lane to wait for more than an hour, waiting until improved weather conditions prevailed.<\/p>\n

The race then began with a rolling start after four laps behind the Safety Car. Verstappen finished off the podium for the third consecutive race as series leader Oscar Piastri led team-mate Lando Norris home in a convincing McLaren 1-2.<\/p>\n

– \u2018Over-reacting\u2019 – <\/p>\n

Piastri picks off Norris in first lap | 00:32<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/p>\n

\u2018Nicely f***ing done\u2019: Perfect Piastri claims crucial F1 win after more Norris blunders<\/a><\/p>\n

Norris\u2019 classy response to Piastri blow as Aussie lifts lid on masterstroke that stunned rival<\/a><\/p>\n

Ferrari\u2019s Hamilton said race organisers had over-reacted after Mercedes\u2019 Kimi Antonelli and Alpine\u2019s Isack Hadjar collided at Silverstone in poor visibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started the race a little bit too late, I would say,\u201d he said. \u201c\u201cI kept shouting that \u2018it\u2019s ready to go it\u2019s ready to go\u2019, but they kept going round and round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re probably over-reacting from the last race, where we asked them not to re-start the race too early because the visibility was bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis weekend, I think they just went too far the other way. We didn\u2019t need a rolling start.\u201d After a disappointing Saturday when he was twice eliminated in the first part of qualifying, for the sprint race and the Grand Prix, the seven-time world champion responded with a rousing drive through the field from 18th to finish seventh.<\/p>\n

Ferrari’s mechanics stand on the pit lane next to British driver Lewis Hamilton’s car.Source: AFP<\/p>\n

\u201cI always love races like that where you\u2019re challenged and have to make your way through the field,\u201d said the 40-year-old Briton.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, ultimately, I\u2019m disappointed to have had not such a great weekend — definitely one to forget, but at least I\u2019ve still got some points.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, we outscored Mercedes, but I\u2019ve got to go back — and you can\u2019t always get it right. There are lots of factors that contributed to Friday and Saturday, but ultimately me. Obviously I recovered a little bit today, but big thanks to the team. I will try and come stronger next week.\u201d – <\/p>\n

\u2018A safe call\u2019 –<\/p>\n

However, Williams driver Carlos Sainz supported the decision as \u201ca safe call\u201d given the history of the sprawling high-speed circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy respect to the Race Director because he told us after Silverstone – and the accidents at Silverstone – that he would play it safer here and that is what he did,\u201d said Sainz.<\/p>\n

He accepted that the race could have started much earlier on a \u2018normal\u2019 circuit, but pointed out that as a result of the decision taken the race was run for a full 44 laps.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a normal track, yes,\u201d he said. \u201cI think maybe we could have started earlier by five or ten minutes. But at Spa-Francorchamps, and with the history of the track, it is better to be safe than sorry.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got the whole race. You got to watch the full race. So, I don\u2019t think it was a bad call. A safe call, yes.\u201d The Spa-Francorchamps circuit has been the scene of 53 fatalities including two in the last six years due to poor weather conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s better to be safe than to have an accident and to be regretful,\u201d added Sainz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple world champions Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both accused race organisers of being overcautious on Sunday when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,24562,4971,817,28118,813,816,23794,1737,825,28424,2333,28422,28421,25601,28420,22295,85,22764,28423,28418,28419,2753],"class_list":["post-29937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-british-driver","tag-carlos-sainz","tag-f1","tag-formation-lap","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-heavy-rain","tag-lando-norris","tag-max-verstappen","tag-multiple-world-champions","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-race-organisers","tag-red-flag","tag-rolling-start","tag-safe-call","tag-series-leader","tag-sports","tag-sprint-race","tag-standing-water","tag-weather-conditions","tag-wet-weather","tag-world-champion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}