Lewis Hamilton labels Belgian GP a 'farce' as F1 hits back at Briton's comments

Max Verstappen was crowned the winner of the shortest grand prix in Formula 1 history after the Belgian Grand Prix was abandoned with just four laps completed behind the safety car, including the formation lap. Lewis Hamilton labelled the race a "farce" and stated that the extra two laps at the end were only completed for monetary reasons.

Spa Francorchamps, the location for the 12th race of the season, was bathed in a torrential downpour throughout Sunday, which made it impossible for the cars to get out on track and race safely. Even with the track possibly drying up enough to eventually race, the visibility for the drivers following other cars was non-existent.

After multiple delays, the race started behind the safety car, but after just two laps, the cars were brought into the pits. It was another three hours before the cars got moving again, and again it was for just two laps behind the safety car - it was then decided that the required laps for classification were completed, which saw the race abandoned.

Verstappen took another win, while Williams' George Russell took his first podium in F1 as he finished second with Hamilton taking the final step on the podium. Since less than 75% of the race distance was completed, only half points were awarded to the drivers, which means Mercedes' seven-time world champion remains in the championship lead by a mere three points.

Hamilton looked uninterested during the podium celebrations, and revealed his thoughts soon after when he labeled the race a "farce" on social media and questioned the decision to complete the extra two laps only so that they could complete its financial obligation to the broadcasters and organisers.

"I mean, money talks," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "It was literally the two laps to start the race, it's all a money scenario."

"So everyone gets their money and I think the fans should get theirs back too because unfortunately, they didn't get to see what they came and paid for. It's a shame we can't do the race tomorrow and I love this track as well, so sad that we couldn't do this. But today wasn't a race."

"I think the sport made a bad choice today," the Mercedes driver added.

Of course, the British racing driver's views were refuted by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who insisted that there was no financial angle when it came to the decisions made by race director Michael Masi.

"To be honest, as I said, there was really the will to race, but the weather started to be even worse," Domenicali said, as quoted on Planet F1.

"And with the comments that race control was receiving, it was really wrong to keep on doing that [racing] because it was clear that unfortunately after that gap, the weather would not improve," he added. "So that was the reason behind that so it's not really commercial, I can guarantee to you."