Ricciardo: Lack of visibility in Spa sprint 'like nothing I remember'

Daniel Ricciardo admitted after Saturday's Sprint event at Spa that the amount of spray generated by F1's cars on the wet track and the subsequent lack of visibility were unlike anything he could recall from previous experiences.

A downpour ahead of the sprint event drenched the track and compelled race control to delay the start of the shortened race by 35 minutes and to launch proceedings behind the Safety Car.

But while the weather had improved significantly, which prompted drivers to switch to the Intermediate tyre once the race got underway, visibility out on the track remained dangerously problematic according to Ricciardo.

"I was told at the beginning that we were going to do two [laps behind the Safety Car]," said the AlphaTauri charger.

"So I thought ‘good, we need at least two to see the track. I was fourth gear down the straight before Turn 5, and not even full throttle in fourth, and I couldn’t see George [Russell]’s light in front of me!

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"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 is done [and] everyone is safe."

Ricciardo, who returned to F1 last weekend in Hungary acquitted himself well in Saturday's treacherous conditions, running as high as eighth before concluding his afternoon in tenth position.

However, the Aussie believed the lack of visibility produced by the massive rooster tails generated by F1's ground-effect cars was the worst he had ever experienced in his career and made for a scary eleven laps.

"I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I don’t remember it like this," he insisted.

“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.

"But honestly, I think the onboard captures it well, we really don’t see anything above fourth gear."

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