Max Verstappen condemns delayed Belgian Grand Prix start amid wet weather

Max Verstappen condemned as unne­ces­sary the FIA decision to delay the start of the Belgian Grand Prix because of adverse weather conditions, but his view was countered by George ­Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, who insisted any other call from the ­governing body would have been “stupidity” given the conditions and the dan­gerous nature of the Spa‑Francorchamps circuit.

The start was delayed by an hour and 20 minutes after rain swept into Spa just before the race. The FIA opted not to proceed after one formation lap because the visibility given the spray from the cars was so poor. The circuit is enormously fast and challenging and can be dangerous even in good conditions. There have been two fatalities in recent years, Anthoine Hubert in 2019 and Dilano van ’t Hoff in 2023.

Verstappen, whose Red Bull car had been readied to make the most of a wet race, was insistent that the drivers could have coped and that as they began racing they would have been able to clear the standing water.

When asked when he believed the race should have begun, he said: “Three o’clock, straight away. It was not even raining. Between turn one and five there was quite a bit of water but 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.”

The Dutchman, who finished fourth in the race won by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, concluded with a swipe at the FIA. “Of course at the end of the day they do what they want, right? I mean, they decide. I just find it is a bit of a shame for everyone, you will never see these classic kind of wet races any more.”

Russell, however, was among other drivers – including Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – who felt the decision had been correct. “As a racer, you always want to get going, you love driving in the rain,” he said. “But the fact is, when you’re doing over 200 miles an hour out of Eau Rouge, you literally cannot see anything, you may as well have a blindfold on. [That] isn’t ­racing; it’s just stupidity. Considering it was clearly going to be dry from 4pm onwards, they made the right call.”

Verstappen’s view, though, was echoed by Lewis Hamilton, who started 18th but finished seventh after he called the moment to change over to slick tyres perfectly, given the track had dried very quickly. “I would agree [with Verstappen],” he said. “My car was set up for that [wet conditions], and they waited for it to dry. Especially at the end, it was a dry line with hardly any spray.”