Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was declared the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday even though he only completed two official laps behind the safety car and thus fulfilled the minimum requirement for the award of points.
Verstappen scored 12.5 points for the win, taking five points from the lead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton at the top of the drivers’ standings. Hamilton finished third at Spa, reducing his lead at the top to three points.
In the constructors’ championship, too, Mercedes lost its points lead by the same amount and was seven ahead of Red Bull at the top of the overall standings.
The decision to do two laps behind the safety car met widespread criticism, including from Hamilton, who called it a “farce” and said it was purely commercial – something F1 boss Stefano Domenicali denied.
Mercedes F1 boss Wolff was asked after the race for Hamilton’s comment on the “money scenario” and said that people had “every reason to be angry about the way the race went,” but the team had to accept his loss of points and move on.
“Half points are awarded, although it was expected that the weather would not get any better,” said Wolff. “But it is what it is. And I think you have to take that on your chin and close the chapter for this race and move on.
“In a way, we really have to applaud the fans who have been there in the rain for three days, they have been waiting for a race to take place.
“But as a team we lost a few points and so we have to keep going.”
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Motorsport.com has learned that F1 boss Domenicali will discuss changes to the rules with the team boss in the near future to prevent the washout from happening again on Sunday.
A provision in series like IndyCar and NASCAR allows a race to be postponed to Monday, but the FIA said it was not possible at Spa.
Wolff said Formula One should view Sunday as “freak day” and wasn’t sure if there could be any solid findings due to the inability to control the weather.
“Everyone tried to get a race going and it didn’t happen because of the rain,” said Wolff. “To get back to your Monday question, I think we had a lot of fans that day who have to go back to their jobs tomorrow.
“We would have tried to organize the race for the local fans, so it wouldn’t have made much difference to them.”
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