F1 Belgian Grand Prix (Spa-Francorchamps) Aug 27-29, 2021

Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton dismissed this entire situation as nothing short of a joke and a farce—and they didn't hold back on the criticism.

swiftmaker12 said:I’m thinking about the fans who shelled out for those expensive tickets. It feels like the FIA just went through the motions to make sure the race was technically "held" on paper, all just to avoid handing back anyone's money.

Domenico, this argument is as hollow as a Mexico ghost town.

swiftmaker12 said:Well, I just don't have a mother around who would be willing to pack up a bag full of gold for Bakir.
One certainly wishes such people appeared during times of crisis.

Greetings to the racing world and all my fellow enthusiasts here.

If you look into the Turkey refund or even check things out at Imola, you might actually walk away with more than what Bakir is offering.🤣

mellowtiger83 said:Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton called this whole thing a joke and a total farce—and they weren't even being nice about it.

They basically left tens of thousands of people out there freezing their asses off—probably gonna deal with chronic joint pain later—just so millions of viewers could sit through Croft and Brundle trying to stretch four hours of watching rain fall into something remotely interesting. All while they scramble to cram everything back into one day. And the best they could come up with? A parade lap where drivers go 2x2, awarding "half points" that they didn't even bother to show on the final standings at the end of the race. Just a complete mess.

epic fail is epic

Since the rain didn't start coming down until 3:00 PM, I was wondering if there’s any actual talk about postponing the race until tomorrow.
I mean, would that be a logistical nightmare given that we're already heading to Zandvoort this Friday?

The call was the right one, honestly. It just should've happened way sooner than it did.

darkmarlin16 said:It was the right call—it just should have happened sooner.

Exactly. Finding a slot for tomorrow is going to be a nightmare, especially since the next race is right around the corner.

Honestly, it kind of scares me thinking about what would’ve happened if they pulled this on Lewis Hamilton. I mean, we haven't seen a circus quite this ridiculous or a total embarrassment like this before. Just handing him the win because of this... man, it's just a complete disaster.

A total, wet-and-messy farce. Honestly, maybe one of the worst in NASCAR history, and that's considering nobody actually got hurt or sick...

The 2021 US Grand Prix is going to be remembered as one of those races that just completely breaks all the statistics in weird ways. XD

The race had those few formation laps that basically serve no purpose other than to exponentially shrink the total lap count. So, if I saw correctly, we only did 5 because the readout said it would be 39 laps total...

Alright, now it's time to dive deep into the stats:

* Shortest race ever—just 3 minutes and 27 seconds.

1991 US Grand Prix - 24 minutes and 34 seconds.
1975 US Grand Prix - 42 minutes and 53 seconds.
2009 US Grand Prix - 55 minutes and 30 seconds.
1975 US Grand Prix - 57 minutes and 56 seconds.
1984 Monaco Grand Prix - 1 lap, 1 minute, 7 seconds.
1978 US Grand Prix - 1 hour 7 minutes and 4 seconds
2001 US Grand Prix - 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 5 seconds.
9. 2003 US Grand Prix - 1 hour, 14 minutes, and 19 seconds.
2005 US Grand Prix - 1 hour, 14 minutes, and 28 seconds

* Shortest mileage— 4.2 miles

1991 US Grand Prix - 33 miles
1984 Monaco Grand Prix - 64 miles
1975 US Grand Prix - 68 miles
1975 US Grand Prix - 107 miles
2009 US Grand Prix - 107 miles
1997 Monaco Grand Prix - 130 miles
1981 US Grand Prix - 143 miles
1978 US Grand Prix - 144 miles
2003 US Grand Prix - 145 miles

* Lowest lap count - 1

1971 US Grand Prix - 12
1968 US Grand Prix - 14
1969 US Grand Prix - 14
1972 US Grand Prix - 14
6. 1973 US Grand Prix - 14
7. 1974 US Grand Prix - 14
8. 1975 US Grand Prix - 14
9. 1976 US Grand Prix - 14
1991 US Grand Prix - 14

Technically, Max should have walked away with a Grand Slam—pole, leading every lap, fastest lap, and the win—but since that fastest lap happened under the SC, it doesn't really count. It’s almost like he's the first driver ever to miss out on a Grand Slam just because of how bizarre things turned out. This would have been his second one, if not for those circumstances; his first was back at the US Grand Prix.

The 2021 US Grand Prix was actually the first race ever where nobody managed to snag a legitimate fastest lap.

George Russell is a 21-year-old driver who managed to snag a podium finish. Before him, it was Esteban Ocon at the Sakhir circuit.

Number 63, driven by George Russell, marks the 56th unique number in NASCAR history to land on the podium. Before that, we saw number 55 achieve it with Carlos Sainz at the 2019 US Grand Prix. Going back a bit further, number 54 was held by 77, which belonged to Valtteri Bottas during the 2014 US Grand Prix. And if you look even further back, number 53 was actually zero, used by Damon Hill at the 1993 US Grand Prix.

The 2021 US Grand Prix was actually the first time we ever saw a race start from a pit lane formation (correct me if I'm wrong on that), mostly because the cars had already done a few warm-up laps before that first red flag came out.

Sergio Perez was basically written off as a DNS before he even completed a single warm-up lap. But since they managed to fix his car while it was still under parc fermé, they ended up giving him a pit lane start. It’s just bizarre—the race kicked off with only 19 cars on the grid, yet somehow finished with 20 drivers classified. Just strange.

Max Verstappen led from the very first lap straight through to the last—even if there was only one single lap to go—marking his sixth time doing that in his career. He’s officially moved past legends like Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, and Marc Andretti, landing him right at number 12 on that list. Lewis Hamilton is still sitting at the top with 22.

Max Verstappen has officially tied Stirling Moss for the number of wins without a championship title—that brings him to 16.

The 2021 US Grand Prix actually had eight different constructors in the top eight. That’s a new record.

This is only the 11th time in history we've seen a race without anyone dropping out. The last time that happened was actually earlier this year during the US Grand Prix. It’s also the first time ever a wet race has finished without a single retirement.

Honda finally secured their first win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway since Senna back in 1991.

The 2021 US Grand Prix stands as the sixth time we've seen half points being handed out. Looking back at history, there were a few others: the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix; the 1991 US Grand Prix where McLaren secured the championship after Nelson Piquet drove his final race; that 1984 Monaco race where Ayrton Senna landed his first podium; the 1975 US Grand Prix which saw Vittorio Brambilla’s only win alongside Tom Pryce’s first ever podium; and finally the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, the one and only race where a woman scored points—half points, actually—thanks to Lella Lombardi.

James Collins said:I’m honestly terrified thinking about what would have happened if they had treated Lewis this way. I haven't seen a bigger circus or a greater embarrassment. To just coldly hand him the win like this is a disaster.

If you listen to the rumors floating around the paddock, Lewis didn't even have the right setup for a wet race. That actually makes his lap yesterday even more impressive; he could have really struggled if the race had stayed messy. I don't think he would have been totally out of it, but he definitely would have been at a disadvantage fighting Max.

Robert Cox46 said:Every other series went ahead at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend right on schedule, except for NASCAR.
They should have tried pushing for a 3 PM start when visibility was actually decent.

And I don't get it—was there really zero chance to move it to tomorrow? Even an early morning slot would've worked.
Anything would’ve been better than this mess today.

If it wasn't for that Massia race, they would've actually driven...
Mass left qualifying in a complete disaster (just look at Lando Norris), so now he's clearly terrified and didn't have the guts to call the shots on whether to race.

And if we didn't have Amera and their usual nonsense, things would've kicked off at 2 PM like they have for years, and everything would've been fine...

If they had just let them get going behind the SC for like 20 laps or so, the track would've definitely dried out by then, and we actually could have had a real race on our hands instead of this mess.

Pathetic. These guys aren't even drivers—they're just mommy's little boys who freak out at a tiny bit of rain. Morons.
Gross. That was hands down one of the nastiest things I've ever seen.
Disgusting. Just disgusting. Total garbage.

We're done watching races like this. Period.

So, word on the street is the folks over at Mercedes are basically known for being a bit clueless, which I guess explains why, even though everyone was calling for rain this Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps, they still went ahead and put Lewis Hamilton out there with a dry setup because they were banking on some sunny afternoon vibes in Arden.
That's just how the politics work, I suppose.

Lance Stroll has been handed a ten-second penalty:
https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formu...ng-information

🤣

graniteharbor502 said:Lance Stroll got hit with a 10-second penalty:

https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formu...ng-information

🤣

Any idea why?

Brian Perez79 said:Why?

I found it quite baffling that he was penalized simply because they took issue with his soggy helmet, or perhaps because he was slipping around in his shoes in the pit lane and posing a risk to the crew. By that logic, Daniel Ricciardo ought to be penalized too, given how he was crowding the mechanics and messing about with a ball.

Word on the street is they swapped out the front wing for a different spec while they were sitting in the pit lane at

Sent from my Samsung

You will find everything you need in the link I provided earlier. It is Document 40.
They actually swapped out his rear wing while he was in the pits during the break.

A penalty well deserved 😁