Half F1 points “not ideal” but Russell deserved to be rewarded - Brawn

The race at Spa-Francorchamps failed to get underway on time due to torrential rain.

After abandoning the start of the race, teams sat in the pit lane for approximately three hours in the hope conditions would improve.

At 1817 local time, drivers took to the track again behind the Safety Car to get a feel for the conditions while completing a mandatory requirement in the sporting regulations that states at least two laps of racing must be completed in able to award half points.

After two laps behind the Safety Car, the race was red-flagged and later abandoned, handing Max Verstappen his sixth victory of the campaign - 12.5 points added to his championship tally - ahead of George Russell, who scored his maiden podium.

The FIA’s decisions were met with mixed reviews, however, Brawn feels handing out half points was the fairest thing to do and a way to reward those who excelled in tricky conditions during qualifying, such as Russell.

“I feel terrible for the fans, who turned out in their thousands and braved consistently wet conditions in the grandstands to support their heroes,” Brawn wrote in his post-race column. “They showed such dedication and will never forget this weekend.

“Unfortunately, the weather worked against us. It was relentless. The FIA tried everything they could, sending the cars out twice behind the Safety Car to assess the conditions. It wasn’t so much the intensity of the rain that was the problem, more that it was consistent which led to very poor visibility.

“It’s pretty rare to see a weekend where the weather has been so intense, so consistently. Every effort was made to get the race underway safely and normally, there is a window when you can bring the safety car in, but that wasn’t possible. At the end of the day, safety comes first. And it wasn’t safe enough to continue the race. So the FIA did the best they could in what have been very challenging circumstances, of which we’ve not seen in decades.

“Half points were awarded. It’s not ideal but if you can’t reward someone for the race, reward them for the bravery in qualifying. A lap like George Russell did in qualifying in the absence of a full race should be rewarded. As I say, it’s not ideal, but it’s where we are. The weather just wasn’t in our corner on Sunday.”

Brawn believes Russell’s performance at Spa shows again that he’s worthy of a Mercedes drive for 2022.

“We all know George Russell has a fantastic talent,” Brawn added. “We have seen it a lot at Williams, and we saw it amplified at Mercedes when he stood in for Lewis Hamilton at the Sakhir Grand Prix last year.

“George’s performance reminded me a lot of Fernando Alonso when he drove at a wet Spa for Minardi in 2001. He was mighty impressive in a car that clearly was not up to the job. In those conditions, the ratio of driver to car changes – and we saw that with George on Saturday.

“He doesn’t have a front-row car but in those tricky conditions in qualifying, he trounced people with far better cars than he had. In my view, there is only one decision for Mercedes next year with regards the second seat.”