Belgian GP Becomes Sixth Shortest Race In F1 History, Here Are 5 More
JAKARTA - The Belgian Grand Prix won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen on Sunday became the shortest race in Formula 1 and the sixth in the history of the world championship born in 1950 with half the points awarded to drivers.
The day's race was delayed by up to three hours due to bad weather. The safety car guided the car through the restart and the race director was forced to stop the race because the weather did not improve.
The regulations state that only half of the race points are awarded to drivers if the race is between two laps and 75 percent of the original distance.
Verstappen, who started from pole position, was declared the champion and got 12.5 points because the minimum two laps requirement was met.
George Russell, who started from P2, took his first podium finish in F1 in a Williams uniform, while leader Lewis Hamilton took home 7.5 points in P3.
RED FLAG Race control have called the drivers back to the pits due to the continuing wet conditions on track #BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/k62m2LV9Z5
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 29, 2021
Here's a list of the other five races with half the points awarded to drivers:
Malaysia 2009Briton Jenson Button won a chaotic Malaysian GP to claim his second win in two races for the Brawn GP team. The race was stopped behind the Safety Car after 32 laps of the scheduled 56 laps due to heavy rain.
Australia 1991The season-ending race in Adelaide was won by Brazilian Ayrton Senna after being stopped on lap 14 of a scheduled 81 laps due to heavy rain. Italy's Gianni Morbidelli ended the season with half points and had to wait until 1994 to get even a point.
Monaco 1984The race on the Monte Carlo street circuit was stopped on lap 31 of 77 total laps due to rain. French racer Alain Prost is entitled to become champion. He lost the title that year by a half-point margin to Austrian Niki Lauda, despite winning more races.
Austria 1975Stopped on lap 29 of 54 as the Oesterreichring rained. The late Italian Vittorio Brambilla claimed the only victory of his F1 career and was so happy he lost control of his car that it crashed into the guardrail after crossing the finish.
Spain 1975The race at Barcelona's Montjuich Circuit was stopped after 29 laps out of 75 scheduled when Lola's car driven by Germany's Rolf Stommelen crashed into a crowd of spectators and killed five people. Italy's Lella Lombardi finished P6, becoming the first women's rider to score points, although no women's riders have scored full points to date.