FIA president Jean Todt says future Formula One cars must be able to run in wet conditions, to avoid a repeat of the recent Belgian Grand Prix fiasco.
Last month’s race at Spa consisted of three slow laps behind the safety car, with passing not permitted, before it was eventually abandoned.
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Half points were awarded, but the sport came in for heavy criticism for short-changing fans who had waited much of the day in awful conditions.
It was the shortest race in Formula One history, and came a day after Lando Norris had crashed his McLaren heavily in qualifying in similar conditions.
Todt, a former Ferrari team boss, said there was no option but to abandon the race, pointing to the 1976 world championship deciding race in Japan, where Niki Lauda withdrew after the opening lap in similar conditions.
“There were many who criticised what was decided at Spa, but what would have happened if, after the start, we had had an accident with 10 cars that resulted in injured drivers or worse,” he said.
“We would have been massacred. And even without injuries we would have been criticised. For the 2025 regulations, we must think about having cars that can be driven even in the rain.
“Do you remember Lauda at Fuji in ’76? He was the only one of the drivers to give up racing in the rain. Today, every driver thinks as Lauda did then.”
Todt’s nod to the 2025 regulations are an admission that F1 faces a difficult three years. The rulebook has been overhauled for 2022, but the expectation is that those cars will be even worse in the wet, with the bigger diffusers at the rear of the car likely to produce even more spray.
It’s why Todt says wet conditions must be taken into account when the next rules are framed.
The 2025 rule changes are likely to coincide with a new engine formula, with the sport keen to introduce powerplants that are ‘powerful and emotive’ amid criticism that the current engines aren’t loud enough.
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