Sebastian Vettel slates "bitter" Belgian GP half points "a joke"

Sebastian Vettel in the rain at Spa — Photo: © LAT Images

Belgian Grand Prix

Vettel slates "bitter" Belgian GP half points "a joke"

Vettel was classified fifth in the Belgian Grand Prix

Ian Parkes

Monday 30 August 2021 08:00 Updated: 10:03

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Sebastian Vettel has slated the awarding of half points following the bitter events that unfolded in the Belgian Grand Prix as "a joke".

Thousands of F1 fans at a rain-lashed Spa-Francorchamps circuit saw just two laps of running behind the safety car before the 'race' was called off almost four hours after the scheduled start time.

Those two laps allowed F1 to award half points to the top-10 finishers, including five to Aston Martin driver Vettel who was classified fifth.

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But the four-time F1 champion derided such a decision. “It’s a bit of a joke, no? That’s a joke,” said Vettel.

“If you want to get a reward for qualifying, you should get points for qualifying. What did we do [to earn points]? I don’t know.

"There was no race so we should not have any points. What's the effort we did? We followed the safety car and in the end, they said it's not fine to race.

"For us, we get some points but it feels really odd to have done so many races and this by far is the one that doesn't feel like a race."

Vettel could at least understand why the FIA chose not to send the drivers racing in such treacherous conditions as the torrential rain refused to relent all day.

"It's a real shame," added Vettel. "There were thousands of people who came, they probably walked miles to get to the track, already parking their car in the mud, hanging on the whole day in the wet and the cold and we didn't go racing.

"I think we would have all loved to race. Probably it's the right decision [not to race] as it's not safe.

"We have driven in worse but the difficulty is to get going and that's the problem. With the spray, you don't see anything.

"I was in P5 and you couldn't see anything down the straights. It just gets worse. If you're first or second or third it's fine because you can stagger.

"Where we were it was just bad, and that's why it wasn't safe. You're close to aquaplaning as well and there are some high-speed corners.

"It's just bitter for people at the track and at home."