Pierre Gasly expressed his concerns about the extended formation lap period in the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint, as he felt “unsafe” when the race finally began.
Due to heavy rain at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit just before the scheduled start of the Sprint race, the race was delayed, and the cars were led off for five formation laps behind the Safety Car.
The formation laps were not counted as part of the Sprint lap count, resulting in the race being just 11 laps long at the chequered flag. Gasly had no issue with the race taking a while to start, but he did raise concerns about the lack of visibility during those formation laps.
While the drivers did not have significant worries about the driveability of the circuit, with no apparent aquaplaning or standing water, Gasly noted that the poor visibility was a major problem. Even running close to the front of the field, he had difficulty seeing, and he mentioned that drivers in different positions might have had even worse visibility.
Gasly explained that his position was sixth at the time, but the lack of visibility made it challenging to judge distances and positions of other cars. He mentioned that if another driver like Oscar Piastri or Max Verstappen was in the middle of the straight, he might not have seen them and could have collided with them unintentionally.
During the warm-up phase, Gasly and the other drivers were simply hoping for the best due to the limited visibility. In those conditions, he did not feel safe and expressed the importance of considering the opinions of all 20 drivers regarding the challenging conditions they faced during the formation laps.
