It wasn't just about lap time on the loose stones — Nelson Piquet suffered a cracked visor, and Nigel Mansell had a puncture. All of this caused a major headache for Bernie Ecclestone, then still also running the Brabham team.
Belgium was one of 'his' races, so he was the promoter, even if he wasn't responsible for the actual running of the venue and the decision to resurface. Urgent repair work was conducted overnight, and for some reason corners that had shown no signs of damage were also addressed. Some 25 minutes into the Saturday morning practice session the track fell silent, as everyone realised there was no point in running. Elio de Angelis was fastest for Lotus — but he was 23 seconds off the best time he'd done the day before.
The consensus among the drivers was that conditions were now impossible, and a series of meetings began. At that point one suggestion was to cancel all Saturday running, including qualifying and the supporting Formula race, and then skip the Sunday warm-up and go straight into the F1 race on Sunday afternoon. Then unexpectedly at pm someone let the Renault Alpine support race contenders out for a practice session. After that some of the F1 drivers went on a track inspection in a minibus.
Meanwhile at pm the crowd were told that Sunday's action would go ahead as planned. However, behind closed doors, discussions continued. You cannot put the drivers in a position where they have to decide. That's not on. But really the whole thing makes you despair, doesn't it?
Meanwhile the F race, due to run on Saturday afternoon, did not start on time. Competitors had little information about what was going on until Ecclestone appeared in the support race paddock and gathered team bosses together. He told them he now wanted their race to run on Sunday. It would either be held after the Grand Prix, or if that didn't happen, it would be the main event.
There was a promise of TV coverage, so the teams agreed to wait. Instead of heading home on Saturday evening they had to stay another night.
Up in the F1 paddock discussions continued, with Niki Lauda representing the drivers. Finally at around pm team bosses emerged from a meeting and said that there would be no F1 race.
Shortly after that an official statement emerged from the FISA race stewards. They declared that the track was "unsuitable for F1 cars" and thus the race would be postponed "for safety reasons. This was a huge call. Over the decades, F1 had been through all sorts of dramas related to safety and politics — sometimes both on the same weekend — but in the end the drivers had always gone to the grid and raced.
When Sunday rolled around it was clear that F would be the main show for the spectators who had stayed on. Vettel would come home a disappointed P18 — ahead of only the two Haas runners. And with his point-less streak now extended to four races — as team mate Lance Stroll finished P9 — Vettel admitted that his gamble had probably cost him a top finish in Turkey. Verstappen relieved to take P2 for Sprint as he says there's 'nothing shocking' about Hamilton's pace.
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