Daniel Ricciardo cannot remember the spray in Formula 1 being as bad as it was during the F1 Sprint in Belgium.
Saturday’s F1 Sprint at Spa-Francrochamps started behind the Safety Car as rain began to fall moments before cars were set to leave the grid.
That resulted in the 15-lap encounter being delayed initially before being reduced to 11 laps of racing after starting behind the Safety Car.
By the field was released, the weather had long cleared and drivers quickly changed onto intermediate tyres.
The issue, according to Ricciardo, was down to spray rather than the standing water.
“I was told at the beginning that we were going to do two [laps behind the Safety Car],” explained the eight-time race winner.
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“So I thought ‘good, we need at least two to see the track. I was fourth gear down the straight before Turn 5 [Les Combes], and not even full throttle in fourth; I couldn’t see George [Russell]’s light in front of me.
“I was like ‘let’s do a few more laps’, but then it got to four laps and I thought ‘right, maybe if there’s no rain expected, we just red flag it, we wait 30 minutes, 45 [minutes], and then we can have a proper race’ instead of obviously just losing laps behind the Safety Car.
“I’m glad we got the race done [and] everyone is safe.”
While only in the second race of his F1 comeback, Ricciardo is one of the more experienced drivers on the grid.
He made his debut midway through the 2011 season and has 233 race starts to his name.
“I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I don’t remember it like this,” he declared.
“Obviously the last few years has been bad, but five, 10 years ago, we raced in these conditions.
“I know the cars are bigger, the tyres and all that… we want to race because the weather is also fun,” he added.
“But honestly, I think the onboard captures it well; we really don’t see anything above fourth gear.”
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