No matter how people sometimes want it, it is not yet possible to influence the weather in the short term. On Sunday, F1 fans had to accept that the Grand Prix was not possible. Canceling the stage would be a major financial blow, so the drivers drove 3 laps behind the safety car. As the red flag was hoisted during the third lap, the results were determined by the situation two laps in advance – so the stage officially lasted only 1 lap. Of course, it was the shortest F1 race in the championship’s 72-season history.
How to measure the shortest period of time? The benchmarks vary, but the Belgian Grand Prix has ‘raised’ the bar in all respects:
- Least circles: 1, the current record – 12 laps of the 1971 German Grand Prix, which took place on the less than 23 km long Nordsleif track, so the length of the race did not stand out against the general background;
- The shortest distance: 6.88 km, previous record – 52.92 km at the 1991 Australian Grand Prix. The weather in Adelaide was also to blame that day and the race was stopped prematurely due to heavy rain;
- The shortest time: 3 minutes 27 seconds, current record – 24 minutes 34 seconds 1991 Australian Grand Prix. Both of these stages were actually longer, but due to the red flags, the last full lap is not counted in the total time and distance of the race.
Interestingly, when driving behind a safety car, the winner Max Verstapen completed the only lap at an average speed of 119 km / h, which is not so slow. In 1950, Juan Manuel Fanhio won the Monaco Grand Prix at an average speed of just 98 km / h. The speeds on the Monaco street track are significantly lower than elsewhere, especially in wet conditions.
As absurd as it may seem, this was the 11th race in Formula 1 history, with all participants finishing the race. If in the past such an outcome was almost unimaginable, then in the last 7 years this is the seventh race in which no one will leave. The last time this happened was in early summer in France.
Nelaiķis Marejs Volkers reiz teica: “Anything happens in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does.”
Last 2 F1 stages:
In Hungary, Hamilton was the only pilot on the start, but did not win.
In Belgium, Hamilton didn’t even start, but still finished in third place.– f1latvija (@ f1latvija) August 30, 2021
For the sixth time in the history of the championship, the riders were awarded half of the available points. For the first time, the need for such a solution was to be found in the 1975 Spanish GP following a tragic accident that claimed the lives of several people. Half points were then awarded on stages that were prematurely stopped by heavy rain: the 1975 Austrian GP, the 1984 Monaco GP, the 1991 Australian GP, the 2009 Malaysian GP and now the 2021 Belgian GP.
Max Verstapen was named the winner of the race due to his pole position and failure to make his way to his starting position (which cannot be said of his teammate Serhio Peres). This was the 16th success of Max Verstapen’s career. He has repeated Stirling Moss’s record with the most titleless victories. Max is not the first to reach this record. Several riders win their first (or only) title when the number of wins is already much higher. The last such case was recorded in 2016, when Niko Rosberg became the champion only after 23 victories.
George Russell was undoubtedly the happiest driver on the podium. In the qualification, the British athlete shocked everyone with the second starting position, repeating his career record, which was achieved last year in the Sakira GP as a member of the “Mercedes” team. Russell’s best result so far was 8th place in the previous stage in Hungary. The Williams team can also rejoice in their second driver, Nicolas Latifi, who showed a career record in qualifying (11th place), but thanks to Perez’s failure and Bot’s penalty, he finished ninth in the race. After 28 stages, the dry Latifi has been in the top ten for the second year in a row.
For the second time in a row, all three consecutive 3rd place candidates were forced to accept no points in the warm-up circle of the Peres accident, the penalty given to Botas for the incident in Hungary and the qualification of the Norris accident. In Hungary, all three left in the first round, this time nothing more than the first round.
Daniel Richtero completed his 200th F1 stage in Belgium, becoming the 20th driver to reach this limit. He has started in each of the last 200 stages, which is the third longest series in the history of the championship. Lewis Hamilton started 265 consecutive stages before being infected with Covid-19, leading him to skip the Sakira Grand Prix last year, while Niko Rosbergs started 206 consecutive stages from his debut in 2006 until the end of his career in 2016.
Carlos Saincs Spa has not competed well since 2018. This year, the only laps were spent behind a safety car. Last year, Carlos did not start due to technical problems, but a year earlier the engine failed in the 2nd lap. In three years, Saincs Spa has officially completed only 3 racing laps.
