Max Verstappen couldn’t hide his frustration. The Red Bull Racing star was clearly unhappy about officials delaying the Belgian Grand Prix until the rain had mostly cleared. And for good reason – he knew his chances were much better in wet conditions.
In the dry, Verstappen simply didn’t have the car to match the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Even overtaking Charles Leclerc‘s Ferrari would be tough.
The delay was a gift to Piastri, Norris, and Leclerc. They avoided facing Verstappen’s legendary rain-driving skills on a wet Spa circuit.
Not surprisingly, none of them complained about the late start.
## Leclerc backs safety-first approach
Leclerc supported the decision to wait until 4:20 PM local time when the track had nearly dried.
“I think it’s always fine-tuning. On a track like this with what happened historically, I think you cannot forget about it,” the Ferrari driver explained, referencing two fatal accidents in recent years at Spa.
“For that reason, I’d rather be safe than too early.”
He acknowledged the timing wasn’t perfect.
“It’s a constant discussion, and we’ll probably feed the people that made this decision back that maybe it was a little bit on the late side, but I wouldn’t have changed anything.”
## Safety over spectacle
Race winner Oscar Piastri reminded everyone that drivers had specifically asked officials to prioritize safety in wet conditions.
“I think the past few years, particularly here, we’ve given the FIA feedback that we would much rather be on the safe side than risk anything,” the Australian said.
“I think that’s what we did today. If you were to be picky, maybe we could have done one less formation lap. But in the grand scheme of things, if that’s one lap too early, is it worth it? No.”
Piastri also pointed out that frontrunners have a completely different experience than those further back.
“Also, us three are the worst people to ask because we have the least amount of cars in front of us. For someone at the back, the first time we tried to start the race, even for myself with just Lando ahead, I couldn’t see a thing.”
“You can only imagine what it’s like for the guys at the back. That’s always a tough thing to balance because the guys at the front have an easier time than the guys at at the back,” he added.
