Nico Rosberg lauds Max Verstappen for pushing to start the F1 Belgian GP before it got postponed

Nico Rosberg lauded Max Verstappen for wanting to go racing earlier on the formation lap of the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, July 27. The race start was abandoned as multiple drivers complained about a lack of visibility due to the spray caused by the standing water on the track at Spa.

In 2021, the Belgian GP was called off after just two laps behind the safety car due to wet conditions. This year, fans witnessed a formation lap behind the safety car, but the race eventually got going almost an hour and a half after the scheduled start.

Race control decided that the track was too wet to race on at the start, as the drivers were unable to see the cars in front of them on the Kemmel Straight during the formation lap. But Max Verstappen was adamant that all the FIA needed to do was "just run a few laps" to clear the standing water.

The 2016 F1 champion, Nico Rosberg, who was appearing on Sky Sports as a pundit for the Belgian GP, was amused by Verstappen's willingness to go racing in the drastic conditions.

"You got drivers that wanted to postpone the start, coming up with all kinds of stories that even behind the Safety Car you can't see anything, et cetera," said Rosberg. "Then you had the craziest of them all, which is Max Verstappen, saying: 'I don't care! I just want to go racing. I don't even need to see where I'm going, let's just go racing'," Rosberg added, while laughing.

In the end, the race got going with a rolling start after a delay of almost one and a half hours, as previously mentioned. Oscar Piastri overtook teammate Lando Norris to get into the race lead in turn 5, but no other front-running drivers changed positions. The Aussie driver went on the win the race, as Norris finished second.

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Max Verstappen brands the decision to delay the race start "silly"

Max Verstappen at the Belgian Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen came over the team radio to label the decision to postpone the Belgian GP race start as "a bit silly". The 4x world champion also claimed that the FIA was being overly cautious about the situation.

Verstappen wanted to go racing as he foresaw a much longer delay. He said (via team radio):

"Well that's a bit silly, I mean, you should just run a few laps, Jesus. They're way too cautious. Now the heavy rain is coming, and then it's gonna be a 3 hour delay."

Verstappen's guess of a 3-hour delay wasn't quite right, but it was still halfway accurate as the race start was delayed for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The Red Bull driver finished in the same spot that he started (P4), after an unsuccessful challenge for P3 against Charles Leclerc early on in the race.

Edited by Sumeet Kavthale