Formula One planning to change rules following Spa chaos: Reports

DPA Berlin Formula One is planning to change the rules which allowed Max Verstappen to claim victory at Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix despite no proper racin...

DPABerlinFormula One is planning to change the rules which allowed Max Verstappen to claim victory at Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix despite no proper racing taking place, media reports said on Monday.Heavy rain meant it was not safe to race at Spa but two laps behind the safety car were enough under the regulations for it to count, with half points awarded.Drivers have criticized the handing out of points, with Red Bull’s polesitter Verstappen cutting Lewis Hamilton’s overall lead to three points.The BBC, PA News Agency and Autosport all reported that F1 bosses now want to alter the rules after the debacle.McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said on Twitter: “The regulations state that after you do a few laps it can be called a race. I think that needs to be reviewed.“I don’t think there is anyone who would argue the weather was safe to race in, but we need a better solution as a sport when that type of situation happens.” Alfa Romeo said on Monday: “The decision not to race in the conditions was the right one, in the interests of protecting the safety of the drivers, the marshals and the spectators themselves.“However, the situation would have been dealt with a lot more appropriately by not having at all the ‘race’ we witnessed. We hope lessons were learnt, lessons that will improve the way we operate in the future and that put the supporters of our sport in the position they deserve to be.” Despite the whole grid being in agreement that it was unsafe to race, one former F1 personality disagrees.Ex-F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, often famed for saying the opposite to everyone else, thinks proper racing should have been allowed.He told PA: “I would have told the teams and the drivers at 3pm, ‘it is raining, we are prepared to put it off for an hour and hope the weather is going to change. But no matter what happens the race will start at 4pm and then it is up to you whether you take part or not’.“But it is a different group of people now and they didn’t have the courage and they don’t want to take risks.” Spa is one of the most dangerous tracks on the calendar. In 2019, French Formula Two driver Anthoine Hubert died there after a major crash.Ecclestone, 90, added: “In a dangerous sport, things can happen and people can get killed. When people are cleaning windows in big office blocks the cradle can fall and they can die. And they don’t get paid an awful lot of money for doing it.” In what was the shortest F1 race in history, Verstappen moved to within three points of championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who was classified third behind Williams’ George Russell.“It is always good to win and the points are important but it is not how anyone wants to do it,” Verstappen said.“In hindsight it was very important to get pole and although it’s a big shame not to do some proper racing laps, as I really love coming to this track, it was just impossible in these conditions.”Verstappen has had his fair share of bad luck this season so may feel he was due some fortune. But other drivers were much more damning as F1 again had a public relations meltdown.Seven-times world champion Hamilton called it a “farce”, adding on Instagram: “We should have called it quits, not risked drivers and most importantly refunded fans who are the heart of our sport.”Veterans Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso did not like what they saw at Spa, one of the sport’s most iconic tracks.German four-time champion Vettel said the awarding of half points felt “really odd.”The Aston Martin driver, fifth, told reporters: “It obviously was no race so we should not have any points.”Double world champion Alonso said: “For some of them it was a little bit of an early Christmas because there were some gifts given with some people, because we didn’t race but you still get the position and the points. It is a little bit shocking.”The Alpine driver was in 11th, but never got to fight for points with no overtaking allowed behind the safety car.Race director Michael Masi defended the situation, saying the plan had not been to just do the two laps - coincidentally enough in the rules to make the event valid.The cars went out “to see what the conditions were like” in the hope there was a brighter window in the weather which turned out not to be the case.“There’s no ability to postpone the race,” he added, amid speculation it could have been moved to Monday.F1 returns next weekend in the Netherlands when all hope for better weather and less controversy in Verstappen’s home race.