Lewis Hamilton believes race control is overly cautious at the Belgian Grand Prix, suggesting that the delayed start is a direct “reaction” to the chaos following the reboot of the safety car at Silverstone earlier this month.
The start of the race at Spa Franco Champ was delayed by more than an hour due to heavy rain. The car had to return to the pit lane after completing the formation lap behind the safety car.
When the race began four laps after SC, the FIA chose to rolling start depending on the wet conditions, instead of a normal standing start from the grid.
Oscar Piastri was able to overtake McLaren’s teammate Rand Norris for the Red in-in-the-Les Comb, but there was little more action on the order on the first lap under the conditions of the green flag.
Also, the truck dries quickly thanks to the circuit drainage system. The driver threw away the intermediate tires on lap 11 of the 44th lap.
It then ran to the end with most of the same set of tires, leading to a relatively calm race on tracks that are usually known for creating exciting contests.
Hamilton was asked by media outlets including crash.net that “I agree.” My car was also set up for that, if he agreed with Max Verstappen’s opinion. They waited for it to dry out. ”
The Ferrari F1 driver believes that a rolling start is not necessary as they claimed that it is safe enough to carry out the normal starting procedure.
“We could have definitely got a standing start,” he said. “Especially at the end. It was almost dry line. It was hot on the spray so I definitely managed to do it.”
Lewis Hamilton: “It was a reaction to Silverstone.”
Safety cars lead the field
©XPB Image
In the final round of Silverstone, the safety car returned to the pit mid-race, with the track still soaking and poor visibility.
Racing Bulls rookie Hadjar retreated the rear and retreated Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes in Copse, spun heavy on the barrier, forcing an even longer period of caution.
Hamilton believes it is this particular incident that encouraged race control to play too safely at the spa, even if conditions were optimal enough to go to the race.
“I think it was just a reaction to Silverstone,” he said. “I think Silverstone was a mega and it just happens.
“We sat down and talked about it and the driver said they shouldn’t reboot in the final race.
“As soon as someone said, the visibility (that) was really bad and that wasn’t great. It wasn’t as bad as the last race, and I think they just certainly were waiting for it.
“I think they still did a good job. Of course we missed some of the extreme wet laces. I think this was good. But for some reason, the spray here, at least this year, is like experiencing fog.