Marko takes issue with the FIA after 'strange' decision forced Red Bull mistake

12:01, 28 Jul

byNorberto Mujica

The 2025 Belgian Grand Prix was delayed by race direction on safety grounds due to the rain, a decision that Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes derailed Red Bull's Grand Prix.

Having delated the race start by an hour and twenty minutes, the field then was given the green light to ahead with the race, something Max Verstappen criticised as 'not wet weather racing', and even warned that should this be the way conditions are judged, there'd be no more F1 races in the rain going forward.

His 2021 title rival Lewis Hamilton also believed the FIA overreacted in their ruling to delay the race start and went as far as to say that a rolling start was not needed.

Helmut Marko criticises FIA decision as 'strange'

Speaking to ORF, Red Bull's chief advisor Helmut Marko did not see the logic behind it either.

"Strange decision," the Austrian described the FIA's ruling. "It was a decision that, I think, did not take into account the further course of events, because it hardly rained anymore," he added after the stance taken by Race Direction was made known.

What added more confusion to the Austrian former driver was the fact that: "According to our radar messages, there is no more rain."

As it turned out to be the case, Marko was right in his assessment. The Belgian Grand Prix did not see anymore rainfall, albeit for a few drops at the race's end, which by that time, had the original schedule been stuck to, there would have been no cars on track anymore as the race would've finished shortly after the 16:20 local Belgium time mark, the time the FIA set for the new start.

Marko sees room for improvement in the FIA's decision making

After the race start was delayed, rules then came into play, Marko observed. "There are also certain rules. If you suspend (the race start procedure, ed.), you can't do it (resume it, ed.) so quickly, then you have to wait another ten minutes."

On his part Marko believes that the issue is far from over, and should be addressed in the coming future.

"This is also a topic that has to be addressed at one of the next meetings - because now, in conditions that are not ideal, but in conditions where you could easily have driven a safe race, an hour has passed - and nothing has happened."

“I assume that it will dry up relatively quickly. That means that our entire calculation (the higher downforce setup, ed.) based on rainfall will probably no longer be accurate,” he concluded.

Indeed Max Verstappen was unable to make any headway during the race and finished in the very same position he started: P4. Afterwards, former F1 driver turned Sky Sports analyst Martin Brundle, delivered a brutal blow to the world champion.