Michael Masi, FIA Formula 1 race director, admitted that the resumption of Q3 after the Lando Norris had crashed was an err.
Lat weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, F1 venue remained covered in bad weather. It led to Norris crash and had forced F1 to delay the race. The authorities hoped for a better visibility to resume the race but had to run the race in presence of the safety car.
The weather remained harsh at weekend and it led to a devastating crash at W Series. Six drivers were unfortunate to have been caught up in crash on Friday.
F1 Spa qualifying was disordered by the weather. Several drivers raised the flag because the track was unsuitable for them to drive.
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Nonetheless, F1 decided to resume Q3 despite Norris had a devastating crash due to wet track conditions. Fortunately, he remained unhurt during the incident but it drew anger from Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel called for a red flag, which his race engineer communicated to Masi. But it remained unheard.
Masi, race director, admitted his mistake that it was dangerous to resume the session.
“I spoke to a number of drivers [on Saturday] night to get their feedback and they gave me some very constructive feedback,” Masi said.
“So yes, hindsight’s an amazing thing. And based on what they told me, having experienced the conditions at this circuit and all of the rest of it, we probably wouldn’t have started.
“But that’s also a benefit of hindsight with them having driven on this circuit in those conditions, because each circuit is a bit different to the way the water comes off, with the way the tyres react, etcetera. You have to treat everything on its merits.”
Masi conceded that his decision making was faulty because it did not consider crashes at different venues including Spa 24 Hours.
“No, I think you learn from each and every day,” he explained.
“And as I said earlier, having spoken to a number of the drivers [Saturday] night, particularly after having experienced the weather, and driving on the track, it gave them a good reference.
“They gave me some amazing feedback on what can and can’t happen, which obviously helped my process for today and all of them that I spoke to were very willing to say ‘this is the window of what we can and can’t do’, which was extremely helpful.
