Max Verstappen described the decision to delay the start of the Belgian Grand Prix as ‘silly’. The race was scheduled to get underway at 2pm UK time, but after the cars toured the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on the formation lap, the FIA stewards threw the red flag. From there, the start procedure was suspended and the cars returned to the pit lane, allowing the drivers to climb out of their cockpits.
Verstappen was unimpressed with this decision, instead suggesting that the cars should have run extra formation laps to clear the standing water in the hopes of starting the race sooner rather than later. “Well, that’s a bit silly,” Verstappen protested on the radio. “I mean, you should just run a few laps, Jesus. They’re way too cautious, and now the heavy rain is coming, and then it’s gonna be a three-hour delay.”
During the formation lap, many drivers expressed concern about visibility. Among them was pole-sitter Lando Norris, who discussed the situation with race engineer Will Joseph. “Yeah, not ideal for the time being,” the McLaren racer said. “I can’t see a lot behind the safety car, so I can’t imagine what it is like for everyone else.”
Rain delays at Spa are nothing new. Seasoned fans will remember the unfortunate events of 2021 when, after hours of persistent rain, the drivers completed two laps behind the safety car before a red flag stopped proceedings again. The race results were taken from the end of lap one, declaring Verstappen the winner.
For those in attendance and watching from home on Sunday, Piastri was offered an update by his race engineer, Tom Stallard. “In about 10 minutes, they expect rain to be heavy, as it was in the last batch,” he explained. “Then a 30-to-40-minute delay while we wait for that. Randy [Singh, racing director] and the FIA expect we will have to wait for that 30-40 minutes before we get going.”
For the latest breaking stories and headlines, sign up to our Daily Express F1 newsletter, or join our WhatsApp community here.
Heading into the Belgian GP weekend, the intra-team fight at McLaren was building up. After a disastrous DNF in Montreal, Norris reeled off back-to-back victories in Austria and on home turf at Silverstone, closing the deficit to eight points.
On Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps, the tension of the title battle was on show for all to see. Piastri struck back at his team-mate by locking down the sprint pole by a margin of nearly five tenths of a second on Friday, and he beat the Brit on the road the following morning in the sprint race.
Then, in qualifying, Norris fired out a statement to his critics, firing back with his fourth pole position of the season, narrowly fending off Piastri. With the championship deficit pushed out to nine points, a victory in Belgium would bring the Brit right back into the fight.