By Chris King • Updated: 10 Jun 2022 • 5:11
LEWIS HAMILTON has accused Formula One chiefs of only caring about the money, and insists they should refund the fan’s after the farcical scenes at the belgian GP
British world champion, Lewis Hamilton, has heavily criticised the powers behind Formula One racing, after the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa – Francorchamps circuit on Sunday, August 29, descended into unprecedented chaos, with the race eventually comprising of two laps with the cars in a procession behind the Safety Car before being red-flagged and terminated.
Hamilton claims this was only done because the FIA – the governing body – rules state that as long as two laps have been completed then it counts as a result, and hence, the drivers were awarded half-points, with Max Verstappen first, George Russell second, and Hamilton third.
Contradicting Hamilton, Michael Masi, the FIA race director claimed he genuinely believed there was a chance the weather would improve, which was why he allowed it to start, while Stefano Domenicali, the F1 president, assured that there was no commercial purpose attached to the decision to start the race.
Speaking with Sky Sports F1 after the ‘race’, Hamilton didn’t hold back, “I mean, money talks. It was literally the two laps to start the race, it’s all a money scenario. So everyone gets their money, and I think the fans should get theirs back too, because unfortunately, they didn’t get to see what they came and paid for. It’s a shame we can’t do the race tomorrow, and I love this track as well, so sad that we couldn’t do this. But today wasn’t a race”, adding, “I think the sport made a bad choice today”.
Taking to Instagram later on, the seven-time world champion was still not happy,
In a later post on his Instagram story, the seven-time world champion went further by saying “today was a farce” and that “we should have just called it quits”, before continuing, “Of course you can’t do anything about the weather, but we have sophisticated equipment to tell us what’s going on, and it was clear the weather wasn’t going to let up. We were sent out for one reason and one reason only”.
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Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com
Easy to demand money back for fans when it isn’t your money. Presumably Lewis will also be refunding a % of his salary also for not doing the job he was contracted to do.
I agree with Lewis, it was a farce & it was obvious to anyone who looked at the weather maps which were screened that the weather maps, that the rain would let up.
I agree with Lewis that this was purely financial and was obvious to the majority who watched. It is a cynical step that will hasten the demise of F1 if brazen decisions such as this continue to be played out before our eyes.
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