“We have seen enough terrible things here at this circuit”– Pierre Gasly supports FIA’s decision of not having a race at Belgium on Sunday.
The unending rain on Sunday at Spa Francorchamps propelled Formula 1 to suspend the Belgian Grand Prix race after a few trials, and halved the points and gave it to the top-10 drivers.
Pierre Gasly talks about the extremely hazardous conditions at the venue and suggests F1 some solutions, which they can apply to prevent the race suspension under the rain in future.
“I think we need to work on reducing the spray behind the cars, because that’s the real problem. When I looked at the medical car, of course it went at a much lower speed, but the spray is a lot less than what we do with our cars,” Gasly said to Motorsport.com.
“So I think that’s an area F1 needs to focus on for the next few years. If you reduce the spray and you have better visibility, okay, then the conditions can be tricky,” he added.
“You can have aquaplaning, you can have a lot of sliding, you can be very slow, but then it’s up to us drivers to be at the limit of the grip we have. But at least then we can see enough, because visibility was the problem on Sunday,” said the AlphaTauri driver.
Terrible things happened here
Gasly lost his closest friend Anthoine Hubert two years ago at this same venue, and he remembered him every time F1’s entourage came to Spa since then.
Remembering Anthoine Hubert, two years on from his sad passing. 🧡 #AH19 pic.twitter.com/eHxiJhJsaP
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 31, 2021
pierre gasly bringing flowers to spa for anthoine hubert 🥺 their friendship ❤️ pic.twitter.com/5cxaZ6tGtC
— ece (@ricciardopics) August 26, 2021
Moreover, recently two horrible accidents happened in quick succession this year at Eau rouge– 24 hours of Spa and W Series racing. Thus, Gasly concluded that abandoning race was a good decision.
“Unfortunately I don’t think any other option was possible. If a car stops on the track or crashes for any reason and there are many other cars right behind it, we know what the consequences are if a car is hit. We have seen enough terrible things here at this circuit.”