What do drivers think of the eighty-minute delay at Spa-Francorchamps?

After last Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix kicked off with an eighty-minute delay as a result of torrential rainfall, several drivers were asked ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix to comment on what the situation.

The start of the Belgian Grand Prix was delayed by over an hour due to heavy rain, with cars having to head back to the pitlane after completing the formation lap behind the safety car.

After an 80-minute delay, the F1 field headed out onto the Spa-Francorchamps, the SC led the field for four laps before the FIA opted for a rolling start in response to the damp conditions, instead of the usual standing start from the grid.

Asked to share his opinion, Alpine's Pierre Gasly claimed that the slightly conservative approach from the FIA might have been a results of incidents that happened in similarly challenging, wet conditions at Silverstone.

"It's always easier to explain why you've been too conservative than explaining why you've put the drivers in dangerous conditions. At Silverstone, we saw a driver hitting another car from not seeing where it was going, which to me has nothing to do with racing. We want to see overtaking.

"We want to see skills out there in the wet, not a race decided on whether you see what's going on two meters in front of your car. Spa, they said before the weekend, they'd probably be more conservative knowing what happened in Silverstone and knowing the history of the racetrack.

"Were they on the conservative side? Yes. Can we complain that they were conservative? I don't think so. Can we work with them to help them make a slightly more precise judgment and increase the show and the driving on track in these conditions?

"Sure thing. I'm sure we're going to talk about it in the Drivers' Briefing and next race they'll do even better and we'll find the right adjustment. I don't think it's fair to say they've done a bad job. It’s explainable.

"They were on the safer side this time. We'll work on that. Us drivers, we want to drive on the wet. We're fine with it. It's always exciting. You don't want to end up in a situation where you don't see and you end up crashing in the middle of the Kemmel straight and having another incident you need to explain to another family. It's a fine line and we will work on it with the FIA and I'm sure it's going to get better over time.

Gasly's former team-mate Esteban Ocon also shared his view, recalling another Spa race which took place in similarly challenging, wet conditions in 2012.

"I can give an example. The first year I went to Spa was 2012 and I was at the back of the grid. It was a wet race. I couldn't see a thing, basically similar to what happened to Isack when he crashed into Kimi, except we were in Spa.

"I was P25 or something like that. I tried to look to the right to see if there was some clear vision ahead and no spray, and I backed off. I was maybe in fourth or fifth gear, probably like 160, 170. The moment I pulled to the right, I basically crossed the car that was parallel to the track and I just saw him when I crossed his path.

"If I was on the left, things would have been similar. I would have probably had a massive injury from that. I've been in those situations. It's not any fun.

"I think what the FIA did was the correct thing for Spa. We don't want to race in conditions where we are not able to see two metres ahead. It's calling for disaster to happen again. We've lost enough drivers in those kinds of conditions and that's not something we want to see."

Having taken his sixth victory of the season, championship leader Oscar Piastri backed FIA's conservative approach, stressing that it was in line with what the drivers had asked for after Silverstone.

"I think Pierre summed it up very well. In the last few years, we've been giving our feedback to the FIA about what we think is acceptable and what's not.

"It is always much worse in the car than it looks on TV, and I think the FIA has done a very good job of listening to us and taking that feedback on board. We asked for them to be, if anything, on the conservative side.

"You could argue that we were, but we would much rather that than the opposite. The feeling in this room would be pretty different if we had a big crash last week. We'll work with the FIA and fine-tune that, but I think we're on the right side of cautious."