What caught my attention this year?

AH - The Belgian Grand Prix.
So much history, so much passion, so much danger.
Formula one is one of my favourite sports. The Belgian GP is one of my favourite events, mainly because of the thrill, passion and danger of the circuit Spa-Francorchamps.
The reason why this is one of my favourite GPs is not only because it is located in my home country, but also because it is where my favourite team and favourite drivers performed well as well as favourite iconic moments. Michael Schumacher made his F1 debut in Belgium. Charles Leclerc won his first ever race in Belgium. Sebastian Vettel won with Ferrari in 2018. Iconic moments such as, "But here comes Sebastian Vettel" and Kimi Raikkonen winning in an average McLaren took place. A lot of happy moments happened here, however, there have been some sorrowful moments also. During the 2019 formula 2 race, Antoine Hubert, an up and coming racer, sadly lost his life during a massive crash with Juan Manuel Correa, who was left paralysed from the legs down for over a year. Additionally, in 2020, both Charles Leclerc's and Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari's had brake issues and both ended the GP early, DNFing.
Although the GP can be exciting, it is one of the most dangerous tracks in the sense that it has high-speed corners such as la Source and Eau Rouge, as well as an elevation change of 101.2m. This adds a high risk for all the drivers and teams involved in the race. However, with increase in safety deaths and injuries are becoming more uncommon.

This is why last weekend's 2021 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix was so weird. It was raining all weekend, throughout Practice 1, 2 and 3. When it came to qualifying, the rain had settled down.On Saturday, Q1 and Q2 went through without problems. However, during the second stint of qualifying 3, with only 10 cars remaining, the water on track was increasing and the water pouring down was as well. One of my favourite drivers, Lando Norris, was starting his last flying lap of the track, and the rain was getting worse, but the FIA officials were not calling a red flag, stopping the session. This meant that he had to keep on going. After being P1 in both Q1 and Q2, we all knew he was going to be driving mega-fast. When Norris was entering the first corner of the track, Raidillon, he lost wind of his car and had a massive shunt which caused substantial damage to his car as well as himself, needing to be taken to the hospital for X-rays after. Although he was fine, questions were raised by the other drivers and teams for why the red flag had not been called earlier so that this shunt could have been fully prevented.

On Sunday, the rain seemed to be continuously pouring. It would not stop. The race had been delayed for 10 minutes, after which it started behind the safety car on a yellow flag, which meant that no overtaking could be done neither could the speed be increased. The latter being unhealthy for the cars as they need to be going a certain speed in order for everything to work properly. The danger was increased, when one of the drivers, Sergio Perez, who races for one of the best teams: Red Bull, crashed during the formation lap. The race was red-flagged after the first lap, which would mean that the race could not be classified yet. The delay went from 5 minutes, to 10 minutes, to 30, to an hour, to an hour and a half. The race finally started 3 hours after the initial timing but only behind a safety car. They went on for two laps, after which the red flag was called again because many of the drivers complained that the rain was even worse than before. Nevertheless, the FIA regulation mandates only two laps need to be completed for the race to be classified, but, 75% of the race needs to be completed in order to get full points. Since only two laps were completed, only half points were awarded.

What was even stranger about the weekend is that, George Russell, a Williams driver, came in p2. Williams Racing is typically one of the slowest cars on the circuit and have not had a podium since 2017. This made the race weekend even more confusing than it already was. Why - or better yet- How was a Williams car faster than all the others? This question still has me baffled.

I spent 5 hours of my day watching the race that never started. Formula 1 is something that will always capture my attention, no matter what, however it is races in Belgium that make it feel even better. Which is why it was so sad that the race could not take place.