Written by Ellie Nicholls
The skies well and truly opened up over the Spa-Francorchamps circuit yesterday, causing the Formula Two Feature race to be first postponed and then red-flagged after just eight laps of torrential rain, low grip and even lower visibility.
The podium finishers shared their thoughts with DIVEBOMB following the eventful yet short-lived sprint race.
Zak O’Sullivan, having led the sprint race from start to finish, revealed that the conditions around the track were difficult to deal with — even with the best visibility out of anyone in the field.
“In the wet especially, every lap you approach the corners slightly differently.” explained O’Sullivan. “Added to that, this weekend we’ve done no laps in the wet.”
Due to limited wet weather running so far at this circuit, as well as throughout the rest of the season as a whole, the drivers were truly thrown in the deep end during the sprint race - forced to adapt very quickly to the inclement conditions.
As second-placed Dennis Hauger said: “It’s tough. The track is changing a lot- it’s drying, it’s getting more wet, it’s all over the place. It’s really about adapting.”
Richard Verschoor, who remained in third place throughout the eight laps of the sprint, was at a slight disadvantage compared to the other podium finishers.
Having the cars of both O’Sullivan and Hauger in front of him, the Dutch driver’s visibility was very limited due to the large amount of spray generated by the frontrunners - to the extent that, on the main straights, he was unable to see the cars in front of him at all.
“[The conditions] started off okay, but it got gradually worse throughout the race.” expressed Verschoor. “I was happy to go racing- but the rain was just too much at some point.”
All three of Saturday’s podium finishers praised the decisions made behind the scenes during the race- both the choice to postpone so that they were still able to get a few laps in, and also the call to bring out the red flag, ensuring that the safety of the drivers was not compromised.
“The red flag was visibility based, and this is more for the cars further down the pack.” explained O’Sullivan. “Safety is paramount, and in the end that’s the reason the red flag came out.”
With only eight laps of 18 completed — half of which were behind the safety car — the podium celebrations were somewhat dampened following the sprint race. O’Sullivan admitted that, even though the win is still a win, it would have been more satisfying had the race gone to completion.
Still, while the British driver may have been hoping for the full eight points rather than the five he amassed today, and though some fans may be disappointed at the limited running, it is clear that the right decision was made in cutting the race short.
Safety must always be the number one priority in any racing series- and there is still plenty of action to look forward to this weekend.
Today’s feature race, which is currently forecast to be run in dry conditions, promises all of the drama, overtaking and speed for which Spa-Francorchamps is renowned - make sure not to miss out on any of the action.
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