Charles Leclerc urged his rival Formula One drivers to put safety first if wet conditions affect racing at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Rain is expected at Spa-Francorchamps and the Ferrari driver cautioned against others anxiously trying to get laps in on a wet track that has seen two fatalities in the past four years.
This weekend’s format includes a Saturday sprint race, and qualifying for Sunday’s race is held on Friday. There is only one Friday practice session scheduled, and if the expected rain is too intense, that lone practice session could be washed away.
Leclerc doesn’t want drivers to grow impatient trying to get on track because safety “needs to be the priority.”
“Us drivers, we shouldn’t complain if we don’t have any laps if it’s not safe to do so, with everything that has happened,” Leclerc said Thursday.
Leclerc won the first race of his F1 career at Spa in 2019, the day after F2 driver Anthoine Hubert was killed in a multi-car crash at the track.
“(It) was difficult to enjoy the moment as we’d lost Anthoine the day before,” Leclerc said of his first win.
Dutch teenage driver Dilano van ’t Hoff was killed earlier this month on the circuit while competing in the Formula Regional European Championship.
On such a notoriously risky track, Leclerc says safety is the priority and governing body FIA must make that its prime focus.
“When is it safe to start a race? This is another topic for FIA to look closely (at) especially on a weekend like this,” Leclerc said. “To not feel the pressure of starting a race just because we didn’t have any running.”
Two years ago, six drivers from the all-female W Series needed medical checks following a heavy crash during a qualifying session on the same track. There was also a multi-car accident in an F3 race.
Spa’s layout features a notorious flat-out uphill section known as Eau Rouge, which is followed by a blind corner sequence into Radillon.
Accidents are often caused by drivers bouncing back across the track after initial contact with barriers, leaving them wide open to be hit by other cars following behind. That portion of the track can be a brief blindspot for drivers.
“It’s really hard to put into words what we are seeing, apart from saying we are seeing nothing. We are not exaggerating when we say we don’t see anything. This is a really big problem for Formula One, for motorsport in general,” Leclerc said. “There’s quite a lot of spray and then this causes quite a lot of incidents just because we cannot react to what’s in front of us.”
VERSTAPPEN’S MARCH
Two-time reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen has his eyes on an eighth straight victory of a dominant season.
The runaway championship leader is already 110 points ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez in second place. Verstappen is chasing his 10th victory of the season to move closer to his own F1 record of 15 from last year.
He’ll have a five-position penalty Sunday on the starting grid for changing a gearbox, but athird straight title already looks like a formality.
Pérez, meanwhile, found some much-needed form with a third-place finish at the Hungarian GP last Sunday. He started ninth and rallied to a podium finish at a track considered one of the toughest in F1 for passing.
“I have had four of five weekends where I didn’t maximize (the car’s potential) and that cost me a lot of points,” said Pérez, whose season hit a low when he placed 16th in Monaco. “After Monaco I lost some confidence after the way my crash happened, and that put me back.”
HOPEFUL HAMILTON
Lewis Hamilton is increasingly confident that Mercedes can finish the season in second behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
The seven-time F1 champion took a superb pole position in Hungary and finished in fourth place, narrowly missing out on a fourth podium in the past five races.
“It leaves us optimistic. It was amazing to have that experience on Saturday, it shows there is potential in the car. The race pace was good … and we have some upgrades here this weekend,” the 38-year-old British driver said. “It’s been a big, steep uphill climb. But we’re fighting for second in the constructors’ championship, which we didn’t really expect. My full focus is (on) securing second.”
Mercedes holds a 39-point lead over Aston Martin and leads Ferrari by 56.
Hamilton has not won since the penultimate race of the 2021 season and thinks a victory remains a long shot considering that Red Bull has won all 11 races.
“Not quite sure we can currently compete with them,” he said.
McLaren, meanwhile, has been resurgent.
Lando Norris is after a third consecutive podium, while rookie teammate Oscar Piastri seeks a third straight top-five finish.
“The car’s competitive, we’ve clearly made a big, big step,” Norris said. “Fighting for podiums, fighting for pole positions.”
Belgium features the third of six sprint races. Perez won the first one in Azerbaijan and Verstappen won in Austria.
Following the mid-season break, the season resumes on Verstappen’s home track at the Dutch GP on Aug. 27.
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