Formula 1 Dutch GP

Aston boss Szafnauer sympathetic to call for Spa F1 ticket refunds

Aston Martin team boss Otmar Szafnauer has sympathy for Formula 1 fans who have called for ticket refunds after Sunday’s aborted Belgian GP.

Adam Cooper

Edited: Sep 1, 2021, 11:27 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Fans under umbrellas during a red flag period

The race was stopped after the cars took to the track for two brief runs – two formation laps and then later the three laps that generated an official race classification – much to the frustration of spectators who had paid hundreds of Euros for tickets.

World champion Lewis Hamilton suggested soon after the race that fans should get their money back.

The issue of what happens next is being discussed by the Spa promoter, the FIA and the F1 organisation.

"I'd be understanding,” said Szafnauer when asked by Motorsport.com about the call for refunds. “It's not for me to say, but they came to see a motor race, and we didn't quite produce that. But no fault of our own, we can't control the weather.

“They tried to get the race in, and I don't think it was raceable. Just visibility wasn't good enough in the back.

“And we saw a similar conditions in '98. There was a big crash between Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. That race went ahead, but visibility was so bad that they ran into each other at high speed. So it was the right decision."

Szafnauer also backed calls for the FIA to have more leeway with race start times when there is an obvious threat of rain.

"I think we should have some latitude for sure,” he said. “Because we're here for the fans. If we're waiting to try to get the race in for the fans, then we shouldn't be handcuffed or bound by those kinds of rules. We should do what's right for the people that pay the money.

“But you know, that's racing. That's part of it, especially here, and it’s not the first time. I mean, first time maybe this has happened, but not the first time that you get these kind of weather conditions here at Spa.

"Like I said, '98 similar conditions here, but a major accident, they were both lucky to walk away. What you don't want to do is go ahead and race and look back and say we should have never done that because something happened."

Read Also:

While Sebastian Vettel earned Aston Martin useful points for his qualifying position of fifth place, Szafnauer admitted to some frustration that the race didn’t go ahead, suggesting that Vettel could have climbed to third and that Lance Stoll could have made good progress from his 19th grid slot.

"We had a really good car here and unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to show it," he said. "I think even Lance starting from where he started would have scored points and Seb would have had a good shot at a podium.

“It's hard to predict, but I think we could have been a couple of guys that were ahead of us. And probably held off the guys behind us.

“Seb should probably have started third, but he made a mistake in qualifying, but it is what it is. Probably Lando [Norris] would have beaten us, but he didn't. So we would have been up there.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Gasly: F1 should address spray issue after poor visibility at Spa

Next article F1 opts against DRS use on Zandvoort banking

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

3 h

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 3 h

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

3 h

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen to race for JR Motorsports again in 2027

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Phoenix II

4 h

Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen to race for JR Motorsports again in 2027

Feature

Discover prime content

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts