Fernando Alonso, Alpine Formula 1 driver, is in awe on Belgian Grand Prix results. He found it upsetting that F1 announced results after two laps behind a safety car.
Heavy rainfall poured in at Spa-Francorchamps which made it dangerous to run the race. F1 halted the race for about three hours and then decided to start it with a safety car. It lasted for about two laps and then it was called off.
Two full laps and one lap into pits fulfilled the regulations requirement. It helped the officials to declare the result with half points.
The Belgian GP debacle made many unhappy within the sport. Stefano Domenicali, F1 CEO, expressed his wish to engage teams and FIA on the matter. He wishes to avoid the repetition of such events in future.
Despite his displeasure, Alonso fully endorsed FIA decision to stop the race during heavy rainfall. However, he was unable to comprehend handling of points.
“I agree over the conditions, the only thing I don’t agree is why they do two laps, and they give the points because we didn’t race,” said the Spaniard.
“We didn’t have the chance to score points, and many people [didn’t]. I’m P11, I didn’t have any green light lap to score a point, so we didn’t score.
“So that’s shocking. But that is their decision. So there was no way we could race today, as we showed. It was only a red flag situation or behind safety car situation, as we did. So how you can give points to a non-race?”
He added: “They did the three laps just to give the points because the conditions were the same as before, so it was a strange show for sure.”
Many drivers echoed Alonso’s voice which left them shocked on FIA decision of ponts.
Lewis Hamilton shared his opinion on Instagram and expressed his despair.
He said: “Of course you can’t do anything about the weather but we have sophisticated equipment to tell us what’s going on and it was clear the weather wasn’t going to let up. We were sent out for one reason and one reason only.
“Two laps behind a safety car where there is no possibility to gain or lose a place or provide entertainment to fans isn’t racing. We should have just called it quits, not risked the drivers and most importantly refunded the fans who are the heart of our sport.”
