The Formula 1 commission will review the rules after the errors of the Belgian GP
Jean Todt, the president of the FIA, announced that the regulations will be reviewed to avoid reproducing the mistakes of the Belgian Grand Prix. A meeting will be held on October 5th.
The FIA will learn lessons from the farce of the Belgian Grand Prix. Under the deluge, Max Verstappen won the race at Spa-Francorchamps for his sixth victory of the season. The Dutchman is now just three points behind his direct rival, Lewis Hamilton. Only two laps were completed by the drivers behind the safety car. All drivers in the top 10 received half points. Some drivers questioned this decision after the race.
The FIA promises to review the regulations in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes if such a day occurs again. On Twitter, Jean Todt, the president of the FIA, first explained the details of this particular afternoon.
« This year’s Belgian Grand Prix presented extraordinary challenges to the Formula 1 World Championship. The weather windows predicted by forecasters did not materialize throughout the day. And although a small window appeared late in the day during which there was an attempted race start, conditions quickly deteriorated once again. »
« Therefore, due to the lack of visibility created by the spray behind the cars, we were unable to run the entire race in conditions safe enough for the drivers, marshals, as well as the brave spectators who waited many hours in the rain, and for whom I am truly sorry.
Then, the president insisted that a revision of the regulations will take place at the next meeting, on October 5th. It is clear that such a Sunday should not happen again.
« The FIA, in collaboration with Formula 1 and the teams, will carefully examine the regulations to see what can be learned and improved for the future. The conclusions, including the matter of points allocation, will be added to the agenda of the next F1 Commission meeting on October 5th.
— Jean Todt (@JeanTodt) August 31, 2021
The FIA and F1 communicated that regulation 51.14 was invoked to justify stopping the race. However, this regulation specifically applies to sprint races only.
Extract from the press release: « The results were defined in accordance with Article 51.14 of the FIA F1 sporting regulations, stating that at the end of lap 1, being the penultimate lap before the lap on which the signal was transmitted to suspend the race. However, for the determination of points, Article 6.5 applies: the leader having crossed the line 3 times, then in accordance with the regulations, the leader completed more than 2 laps, which allows to give half of the points in the scale. »
It was eventually regulation point 4.15.11 that should have been mentioned, namely: « If the race cannot resume, the results taken into account will be those from the end of the penultimate lap when teams received the signal to stop the race. »
In other words:
Signal received by the teams in lap 4 = 3rd crossing of the line, lap 4 in progress.
Second to last round = Round 3 – 2 = Round 1, so the results are taken at the end of Round 1.
The regulation does not specify the minimum number of laps to award points.
