Stefano Domenicali admits weather radar failed Formula 1 in Belgium. Domenicali admits weather radar failed F1 in Belgium.

Italian manager and the current CEO of Formula One Group Stefano Domenicali admitted that the weather radar had not predicted the severity of the rain in the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. No actual racing was able to be held last Sunday, with persistent rain setting in pre-race and lasting for the rest of the day, getting heavier as the hours passed and the fans waited patiently in the stands.

And it seems that Formula 1’s weather radar had not predicted such conditions, that eventually made it impossible for yhe Belgian Grand Prix to take place. Such a call though would have been down to the stewards, not Stefano Domenicali himself.

“I cannot control that, it’s the stewards that control that, if you want to change the time. As far as the information that we had, there was, let’s say, considered to be normal rain. There was no sign that the rain would have been so bad. Otherwise, a decision could have been taken by the stewards.” – the former Ferrari boss explained.

The stewards tried to extend the window for the race by stopping the clock on the three-hour period for its completion, with a race start attempted at 6:17pm local time, 17 minutes after the original deadline. Yet only after two laps behind the Safety Car, it became clear that conditions had not improved and they were still too dangerous, meaning the event had to be suspended:

“You see what the stewards decided today is really to stop also the time, in order to try and gain time to see if there was a possible slot to have the race. You could have said in these conditions, is it like to throw the balls in the air. It could have been pouring from 11am or whatever it is. It’s really something that you cannot predict.” – Stefano Domenicali explained when asked about the steward’s strategy at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

FIA race director Michael Masi explained that postponing the Belgian Grand Prix by 24 hours was not possible and Stefano Domenicali confirmed this: “Not for logistical, for a lot of reasons, you cannot schedule the race the day after for many things, related to availability of marshals, availability of other stuff. That was considered, of course, but it’s not possible. With the promoters, everything is very close, they followed the decision process, so they are not out of that.” – Stefano Domenicali concluded.