Pierre Gasly says it was a shame there was not any green flag running during Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, with the Frenchman starting and finishing sixth in a race that saw only a handful of laps behind the safety car.
The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver believes the conditions that faced the drivers at Spa-Francorchamps were ‘extreme’, and he does not believe he had driven in those kind of conditions before during his racing career.
Gasly says everyone knows how dangerous it is to drive at Spa-Francorchamps, so to not allow them to race at full-speed was the right decision from his point of view.
“It’s been a long day and I’m very disappointed that we didn’t get to race,” said Gasly. “I think we all feel very sorry for the fans that have stayed with us in the rain all day, without any racing, and I would like to thank them all for staying until the end.
“However, the conditions were very extreme, I don’t think I’ve driven in conditions worse than this before. I think that the problem was that if anyone spun in the first lap, there was absolutely no visibility and there would’ve been a big accident.
“We know how dangerous it can be to race here, so this was absolutely the correct decision.”
Despite taking four points for sixth place, Gasly does not believe he deserves to score when all he did was run behind the safety car.
“I don’t feel like I deserved any points for what I’ve done,” Gasly is quoted as saying by Racer.com. “I just followed the safety car. I didn’t crash in the laps to the grid, but that’s the only thing I’ve done!
“I don’t know if we deserved any points.”
“I think the FIA made the right decision today” – Yuki Tsunoda
Team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was in agreement with Gasly, with the Japanese racer ending fifteenth at the chequered flag but with no visibility at all behind his rivals.
Tsunoda felt it would have been too dangerous to race at Spa-Francorchamps in the extreme wet conditions, so it was a good decision by the FIA not to allow the racing to get underway, even if it ended his chances of fighting his way up the order to score points.
“It was clearly not possible to race today, especially for any drivers from P7 onwards, I think the visibility was just too poor,” said Tsunoda. “It would’ve been far too dangerous to race in these conditions here today, particularly on such a high-speed track like Spa, so for safety I think the FIA made the right decision today.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing on a personal note to not have had the opportunity to race for points today, but safety is far more important.”
