Masi: Proceeding with Q3 shootout at Spa 'a mistake'

FIA race director Michael Masi says that in hindsight, proceeding with the final segment of qualifying at Spa was a mistake.

As conditions appeared to worsen at the outset of last Saturday's Belgian Grand Prix qualifying, several drivers complained of the track's limited grip level in several areas.

Shortly after the shootout started, Lando Norris radioed in to signal that he had experienced aquaplaning, but the McLaren driver pressed on.

However, on his first flying passage through Eau Rouge, Norris lost control and hit the barrier before the spinning furiously up the hill.

The heavy impact encouraged Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel to check on the Briton, who gave the German an unsettled thumbs up.

Vettel had complained to his team about the dodgy conditions just moments earlier, requesting that race control deploy the red flag, which was belatedly done after Norris' massive crash.

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On Sunday evening, Masi said that his communication with drivers at the start of qualifying should have warranted, in hindsight, the session's abortion.

"I spoke to a number of drivers [on Saturday] night to get their feedback and they gave me some very constructive feedback," Masi said.

"So yes, hindsight's an amazing thing. And based on what they told me, having experienced the conditions at this circuit and all of the rest of it, we probably wouldn't have started.

"But that's also a benefit of hindsight with them having driven on this circuit in those conditions, because each circuit is a bit different to the way the water comes off, with the way the tyres react, etcetera. You have to treat everything on its merits."

• Read also: Lack of visibility harbinger of 'big accident' at Spa - Gasly

Masi said the incidents at Raidillon, including Jack Aitken's crash in last month's Spa 24 Hours or last Friday's pile-up in the W Series qualifying session, were not on his mind during Sunday's assessment of the conditions, with the driver's feedback - live and from the day before -  taking precedence.

"No, I think you learn from each and every day," he explained. "And as I said earlier, having spoken to a number of the drivers [Saturday] night, particularly after having experienced the weather, and driving on the track, it gave them a good reference.

"They gave me some amazing feedback on what can and can't happen, which obviously helped my process for today and all of them that I spoke to were very willing to say 'this is the window of what we can and can't do', which was extremely helpful.

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