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SUTTON

F1 somehow snatches

defeat from the jaws of victory

Motorsport doesn’t do itself any favours sometimes. In recent months we’ve had drivers escaping bans thanks to rules loopholes, a farcical end to a Formula E contest because common sense wasn’t applied, and now we’ve had a grand prix result declared despite no racing.

The disappointing thing about the events of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend are that Formula 1 made the right decision not to run the event. Too many times in the past drivers were essentially told to get on with it, accidents have predictably occurred, and it’s been left to a handful of strong characters, such as Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, to make a point and withdraw from races that shouldn’t have happened. Making the call not to run shows how far safety thinking has come.

But then F1 undid a lot of its good work. The decision to award points based on the brief time the cars spent behind the safety car confused many. Lewis Hamilton was among those who thought that fans had been short-changed, and it is ridiculous that Max Verstappen did not have to complete a single racing lap to score his 16th world championship victory – and take five points out of Hamilton’s lead.

Rerunning the race at a later date, particularly in a season when the schedule has been in doubt thanks to COVID, would have made more sense. And is what happened in 1985, when the Spa surface broke up.

Let’s just hope the points handed out for the 2021 Belgian GP don’t end up proving too crucial come season’s end…

Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com

NEXT WEEK 9 SEPTEMBER Return of the Dutch GP Will we get a race? And will Verstappen take

the points lead?

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F1 WHAT HAPPENED AT SPA AND WHY

BRITAIN’S BEST MOTORSPORT WEEKLY

BELGIAN GP FARCE

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COVER IMAGES Tee/Motorsport Images; Dunbar

PIT & PADDOCK 4 F1 commits to reduced 22-race calendar 6 Cadillac to race in WEC with LMDh car 9 Dutch Grand Prix preview 10 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 11 Feedback: your letters

RACE CENTRE 12 Story of the Belgian GP farce 16 Russell’s sensational Spa qualifying 19 Formula 1 technical focus 20 Results from the 2021 Belgian GP 22 BTCC: Sutton pulls clear at Thruxton 28 Extreme E hits Greenland – and drama 32 World of Sport: FIA Formula 3; W Series; GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup; Porsche Supercup; NASCAR Cup; Super Formula; MotoGP

INSIGHT 40 Having fun in the name of a good cause

CLUB AUTOSPORT 51 Button to make Revival debut 52 Harvey takes podium on Porsche return 54 Popular C1 series to move to BRSCC 57 Opinion: Stephen Lickorish 58 National reports: Thruxton; Snetterton; Oulton Park; Brands Hatch; Cadwell Park; Kirkistown; Castle Combe; Pembrey; Donington Park

FINISHING STRAIGHT 70 What’s on this week 72 From the archive: 1971 Italian GP 74 What could have been: David Brabham

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