Daniel Ricciardo believes there was little that could be done with regards to starting the rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix, arguing that the window to get things underway was missed after the initial formation lap. The race will go down in the record books as the shortest in F1 history, as proceedings were delayed for three hours due to rain. Although drivers took to the track after that in an attempt to get things going, the red flags were eventually waved with Max Verstappen being awarded a half-points win. Ricciardo believes there was a slight window to try and get the race going early on, but after that the unrelenting rain made it nearly impossible to start. "The only time the track was OK was [on] the laps to [the] grid," fourth-placed Ricciardo told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media. "So that was at like 14:30. The track was OK then, but after that, we lost the window. "In those conditions, we could have made something, but from about 15:00 it was too late." When asked if the drivers should have tried to race, Ricciardo shared just how difficult the conditions were. "Probably the easiest way for me to relay the messages is it's just simple physics that the car will just not stick and stay on the road," Ricciardo added. "And that's with 100 percent visibility, let alone with five percent. So it gets to a threshold where it's no longer about skill, it's about the car not sticking to the track." When pressed on the matter and how no drivers spun while driving behind the Safety Car, Ricciardo said things would have likely changed once they attempted to push the limits. "The issue is, because we're so slow, then you're gonna have some people probably trying to do something out of the physical realm of the car," Ricciardo stated. "You're inevitably going to have maybe a bigger incident because of closing speeds or someone just thinking they can go beyond the limit. "It's a good question, but in a way, I think it causes more problems."
Most read
