Rain, Storms Raise Serious Safety Concerns for F1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa

Charles Leclerc: "We are not exaggerating when we say we don’t see anything, we really don’t see anything when it’s raining."

Rain is expected to fall throughout Friday’s action, which includes Grand Prix qualifying.

Belgium’s 2021 race was infamously called off after just three non-racing laps due to persistent heavy rain.

Large accidents in the past also play in the mind, most notably the fatal crash of Dilano van t’Hoff on July 1,

Formula 1 is almost ready for its summer recess but there was not much of a vacation vibe ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

As part of a calendar shuffle for 2023 Belgium has moved from the first post-summer race of the season to the last pre-summer event of the campaign.

Thursday was spent shrouded in persistent heavy rain and mist at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with temperatures barely above 59 degrees. Yes, it is July, but it feels like mid-fall, and such a situation is not atypical for the region.

The forecast for the weekend’s action, which features the third F1 Sprint race of the season, is looking fairly miserable.

Rain is expected to fall throughout Friday’s action, which includes Grand Prix qualifying, and there remains a high chance of storms for Saturday’s Sprint Shootout and Sprint race.

An improvement is fortunately expected for Sunday but there still remains the chance of a shower. If the race is dry, it could still be an added challenge for drivers, given that every previous session may have taken place in the rain.

Belgium’s 2021 race was infamously called off after just three non-racing laps due to persistent heavy rain and visibility issues, where the mist hangs in the Ardennes Forest, accentuating the pressing concern of spray that streaks from the rear of Formula 1 cars.

Large accidents in the past also play in the mind, most notably the fatal crash of Dilano van t’Hoff on July 1, when his stranded car was struck at high speed by an unsighted opponent in heavy rain.

In 2019 Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert was killed—in dry conditions—when his damaged car was hit a second time at high speed by Juan Manuel Correa, who also sustained life-changing injuries.

“At the moment it’s sort of constant comms with the FIA following the tragic passing of Dilano in FRECA,” said Mercedes’ George Russell, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association which represents all 20 drivers. “The fact is motorsport will always be dangerous when you’re traveling at these speeds. If you were to put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, for sure Spa is one of the riskier circuits, along with Jeddah, along with Monaco, for example. Suzuka to a degree.

"Then when you’ve got a combination of the weather, it’s very challenging. It’s the visibility, we just have no visibility whatsoever. The way I describe it to try and give some perspective is driving down the highway in pouring rain and turning your (windshield) wipers off. That’s genuinely how it feel in the cockpit.”

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc went on to suggest that “the walls on the straight after Eau Rouge should have a bit more space on the left and right. If you lose control of the car, the way it is done at the moment you are bouncing on the walls and you have a very high chance of finding yourself in the way.”

He nonetheless echoed Russell’s sentiments over being able to see anything in wet racing conditions.

“The two biggest problems after that is visibility,” said Leclerc. “Visibility is really difficult to put into words what we are saying, apart from saying we are seeing nothing—we are not exaggerating when we say we don’t see anything, we really don’t see anything when it’s raining. This is a really big problem for Formula 1, for motorsport in general. Any single-seaters, we have quite a bit of downforce and there is quite a lot of spray and then this causes quite a lot of incidents because we cannot react to what is in front.

“Easy to say that, much more difficult to find a solution to that, but I know that the FIA is on it and trying to do the best on that. Then the last thing is when is it safe to start a race? This is another topic for the FIA to look closely, especially on a weekend like this where it seems we will have quite a lot of rain throughout the weekend, to not feel the pressure of starting a race just because we didn’t have any running. We could be in that situation this weekend. It’s obvious to say, but safety should come first and this needs to be the priority. People, and first of all us drivers, shouldn’t complain if we don’t have any laps because it is not safe to do so, with everything that has happened.”

Pierre Gasly, who was a close friend of the late Hubert and organized a memorial run around the circuit on Thursday, conceded to mixed feelings every time he returns to Spa-Francorchamps.

“I love rain conditions, it’s more challenging, it brings more opportunities, it’s more exciting,” said Gasly. “But obviously, it needs to be in safe conditions, and I’m sure the FIA know how to put us in the safest conditions, especially here at Spa. They’ve made the right decisions some years ago when unfortunately there wasn’t a race start, and it’s not because we don’t want to race, it’s because there could be a tragic incident, like occurred some weeks ago. And no-one wants that. So I think they’ve got to rely on us. Obviously they know from past experience, not only in Spa, but also in rainy conditions, visibility is the most dangerous parameter.”

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso agreed with the visibility element and added that “with the nature of the cars now, with the ground effect and big tires, the spray is bigger than the past.

“We have the same frustration in the car because we feel the grip is okay and if we are alone on track we will enjoy driving in those conditions. But as soon as you are out of pole position or P2 you cannot see anything, so you are driving completely blind and that can lead you to very dangerous situations.”

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