Lewis Hamilton receives support from Carlos Sainz while Ferrari star stands by rival | F1 | Sports

Lewis Hamilton’s demand for a refund of spectators at Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix was supported by one of his rivals. Hamilton, 36, was devastating over the course of events at Spa and now Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has repeated the British driver’s anger. Torrential rain plagued the whole weekend in Belgium, and when the race finally started more than three hours later, it was only two laps behind a safety car. But according to the FIA ​​regulations, this was enough for one race and the drivers received half points because of their qualifying position.

It also meant the thousands of fans patiently waiting in the rain were not eligible for ticket refunds and Sainz, 26, has expressed his condolences.

“To be honest, that’s the worst,” said the Spaniard.

“They had the worst, they were soaked for four hours and they haven’t seen a race that they deserve.

“They paid for it and we had a tough couple of years because of Covid-19 and this was an escape route to have fun and have a good weekend schedule.

JUST IN: Williams has George Russell to replace Curveball, which is bad news for Valtteri Bottas

For Mercedes driver Hamilton, a frustrating day was made worse by the fact that his championship lead was reduced to three points before the “winner” of the race, Max Verstappen.

George Russell finished second and Hamilton himself third, but after an awkward podium presentation, he said fans had been “robbed” and wondered why the race had ever started.

“They stood out there in the rain for hours, no cover on the stands – I think there might be in the pit stands – but cold and wet and above all the children.

“More importantly, they had to spend so much money on travel and accommodation and then they didn’t get a race. Too bad and I’m a bit confused as to why they restarted the race because there was no change in the weather between the two hours when they stopped us for the first time to the last time.

“I feel like the fans were stolen from a race today and I think they should probably get their money back.”