FIA explain why 2021 Belgian Grand Prix was not postponed until Monday

FIA race director Michael Masi has responded to calls for the aborted 2021 Belgian Grand Prix to have been postponed until Monday. Heavy rain led to several delays in the race start and eventually meant that there was no competitive racing on Sunday’s race with the conditions being considered far too dangerous.

The final result was still classified because cars ran a couple of laps behind the Safety Car at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit after a wait of almost three-hours since the initial scheduled start. The Belgian Grand Prix was red-flagged after that and again later on after just two completed laps behind the safety car, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen declared the race winner and awarded half points. George Russell was awarded his first Formula One podium by coming second for Williams while Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes came third, with Scuderia Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finishing in P8 and P10 to bring home 2.5 points for the Maranello team.

In the 2021 Formula 1 Driver Standings, Max Verstappen was therefore able to reduce the gap to Lewis Hamilton to just three points, as Formula 1 now heads to Zandvoort circuit for the Dutch Grand Prix.

FIA race director Michael Masi explained that it was never a possibility that the race could be postponed until the next day to wait for better track conditions at Spa-Francorchamps. Interviewed by Sky Sports F1, Michael Masi explained:

“It’s been a long old day! We’ve seen the worst of the weather today. Conditions have not been great all weekend but we had patches where we could get activity done. Today the weather got a bit of the better of us. It was to see what the conditions were like. We were in constant contact with our official weather provider and there was a window where it looked like it was provided there. We had the requirement for a 10-minute warning so it was like, ‘Let’s see if we can find that 10-minute window. A number of the teams saw that window and exactly what we were trying to do to find it. The weather came in and got the better of us again. There’s no ability to postpone the race until tomorrow. Obviously from an FIA perspective and jointly with F1, safety is paramount for the drivers, the teams and all of the spectators. We gave every available opportunity within the regulations and within the provisions of the International Sporting Code to get the best opportunity to be able to complete a race, but unfortunately on this occasion we could not go the full distance that was available. With the provisions of the ISC to stop the clock, that’s what we tried to do to try and get ourselves in that weather window and get some activity. There’s a whole range, a big list pages long that would run between organisers, you know, everyone here… there’s no ability to postpone to the following day. I don’t know logistically if it’s a possibility that it could have been [run later in the year].” – he concluded.