After The Belgian GP Became The Shortest Race In History, The FIA Reviews The F1 Points Rules

JAKARTA - The FIA International Automotive Federation on Tuesday announced plans for a review of how points are awarded. This follows the results of the Belgian Grand Prix where the driver got just half the points after finishing two laps behind the Safety Car.

The rain-soaked race at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit became the sixth race in F1 history to give half the points to the drivers.

What the drivers saw in the "shocking" conditions at Spa#BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/B6ioV1skZq

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 31, 2021

Regulations stipulate that this can happen if the race leader completes more than two laps but less than 75 percent of the original race distance.

Launching Antara, FIA President Jean Todt via Twitter confirmed the regulations were being reviewed.

"The FIA, together with Formula 1 and the team, will carefully review the regulations to see what we can learn and improve in the future," Todt said.

"The findings, including the topic of points allocation, will be added to the agenda at the next F1 Commission meeting on 5 October."

pic.twitter.com/3hcBPzInnM

— Jean Todt (@JeanTodt) August 31, 2021

Todt said the race had faced "tremendous challenges" and a window into the predicted weather to come.

He also apologized to spectators who had waited for hours in the rain, cold and windy weather, but said regulations were being followed properly.

Last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix was the shortest race in F1 history, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen was declared champion and took 12.5 points to cut Lewis Hamilton's eight-point deficit to just three points.

A number of teams and drivers questioned the decision to award points when the actual race could not be said to be running.

"This result hurts all of us, but especially for the fans of this sport, who didn't get the performance they wanted when they got there," said the Alfa Romeo team, who are now ninth in the constructors' standings, 17 points behind Williams who took home. 10 points thanks to George Russell as runner-up in Belgium and Nicholas Latifi in ninth.

"We hope this is a lesson... a lesson that will improve the way we operate in the future and a lesson that puts our sporting supporters in the position they deserve."