The fallout continues from the Belgian Grand Prix chaos, that saw the race abandoned due to the unrelenting bad weather.
While there’s no criticism of the decision not to hold the race, the sport’s governing body is under fire for the controversial decision to award half points for the race, which saw drivers complete three slow laps behind the safety car.
With no laps completed at racing speed, and no opportunity for cars to pass each other, the points were effectively handed out based on qualifying positions.
F1 bosses have no conceded potential rule changes could be needed to prevent a repeat of the farce.
Former world champion Fernando Alonso was one who lost out, unable to improve on his 11th spot on the grid and finishing one position out of the points.
“I agree over the conditions, the only thing I don’t agree is why they do laps, and they give the points because we didn’t race,” he said.
“We didn’t have the chance to score points, and many people [didn’t]. I’m P11, I didn’t have any green light lap to score a point, so we didn’t score.
“So that’s shocking. But that is their decision. So there was no way we could race today, as we showed. It was only a red flag situation or behind safety car situation, as we did. So how you can give points to a non-race?”
Alonso’s former teammate Lewis Hamilton called the race farcical in an Instagram post on Sunday.
“Today was a farce and the only people to lose out are the fans who have paid good money to watch us race,” he wrote.
One team hardest hit was the Alfa Romeo outfit, who saw any chance of passing Williams for 8th in the championship disappear.
Williams picked up 10 points – nine for George Russell who qualified second, and one for Nicholas Latifi who was ninth.
Russell’s qualifying lap has been described as one of the most remarkable performances in F1 history, and his first ever podium is perhaps the only good news story out of the weekend.
But the fact Williams picked up a swag of points without actully racing has left Alfa Romeo miffed.
“The decision not to race in these conditions was the right one, in the interest of protecting the safety of the drivers, the marshals, and the spectators themselves,” said Alfa Romeo.
“However, the situation would have been dealt with a lot more appropriately by not having at all the ‘race’ we witnessed yesterday: this outcome hurts us all, but in particular it hurts fans of the sport, who didn’t get the show they came to see.
“We hope lessons were learnt yesterday, lessons that will improve the way we operate in the future and that put the supporters of our sport in the position they deserve to be.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!