INTERNATIONAL: He wanted to win it and he did, but he probably didn’t like how he won it. Red Bull's Max Verstappen won Formula One's shortest-ever race on Sunday, with the rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix red-flagged after just three laps, the minimum number required for points to be awarded. George Russell finished second for Williams, securing his first-ever appearance on a Formula One podium. Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was third for Mercedes and his overall lead over Verstappen has been cut to just three points.
No-one was happy about the outcome, with driver after driver queuing up to tell the media just how disappointed they were, and yes, that includes the man who will go down in history as winning the shortest Formula One grand prix in history:
"You know, you have to take it. The conditions was just very difficult out there, even worse of course, for the guys behind me, even though, you know, my visibility wasn't that bad. But also then, basically the conditions just became worse and worse from three o'clock onwards. So, maybe we should start the race at one o'clock or two o'clock. That would be a bit better for everyone I think."
Lewis Hamilton wasn’t a happy man either, although his thoughts were with the 75-thousand fans who stood in the rain for over three hours before the race even started:
"I feel mostly for the fans, you know. I so badly wanted it, I was looking out the window the whole time I was in my truck, hoping that the rain would ease off and, you know, I was looking at the radar hoping that it's going to ease up so we can open up a window for us. But it never did and the fans, just sitting out in the cold and the rain and kids out there that were sitting out for so many hours and they still like, were so hopeful. I've been telling everyone I think they deserve their money back today because as a sport we didn't give them a show. That wasn't a race. Shouldn't be counted as a race either."
But it is going to count. Formula One says the rules were observed and the points will stand, meaning the race for the 2021-22 drivers’ championship is suddenly wide open.
