The sporting regulations required the results be taken from the end of lap one, with half points given to drivers who finished in the top 10 positions as less than 75% of the originally scheduled race distance had been completed.
The lack of green flag running led many commentators to question the validity and sporting integrity of officially classifying and awarding points when the only laps completed were behind the safety car with no overtaking permitted.
The event, which was held over the weekend of 27–29 August at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, was the 12th round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship after a four-week summer break.
"[11] This Grand Prix was the first to enforce article 12.8.4 of Formula One technical regulations, which stated "devices which are used to fit or remove wheel fasteners may only be powered by compressed air or nitrogen.
The governing body deemed this practice unsafe, as it meant cars were potentially released from the pit stop without the wheels being securely fastened.
[14] Following the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix one month earlier, Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship by 8 points from Max Verstappen.
[19] After causing collisions at the previous race, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll each received a five-place grid penalty for the Grand Prix.
[24] The Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was fastest, followed by Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen, and Scuderia AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.
Nikita Mazepin, Kimi Räikkönen, Mick Schumacher, Yuki Tsunoda, and Antonio Giovinazzi were eliminated from the remainder of qualifying.
Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz Jr., Nicholas Latifi, and Charles Leclerc were eliminated from the remainder of qualifying.
[57][58][59] The remaining points scorers were Daniel Ricciardo in fourth, Sebastian Vettel in fifth, Pierre Gasly in sixth, Esteban Ocon in seventh, Charles Leclerc in eighth, Nicholas Latifi in ninth and Carlos Sainz Jr. in tenth.
[65] Stroll finished this race 18th on the road but was classified in 20th, having been handed a 10-second time penalty for a rear wing change under parc fermé conditions during the first red flag period.
[69] In addition to admitting to making mistakes on qualifying day, Masi also faced criticism from drivers, teams and media for how he ran the race.
He added that he had been rewarded for a strong qualifying on Saturday, whilst also sympathising with, and apologising to, the attending fans for the lack of action in the Grand Prix itself.
[86] Despite his driver winning the event, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner felt the decision to award points was not right.
[91] Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner suggested the criteria for awarding half points was possibly becoming outdated and needed updating.
[92] Pundit Scott Mitchell was also of the opinion that fans who attended the race deserve compensation, and that Formula One risked alienating some of its fanbase if it did not refund ticket holders in some way.
[99] Vettel and Alonso dismissed the notion that the FIA was being overcautious with safety, citing the modern aerodynamics of the cars, downforce levels and wide Pirelli tyres that had made visibility worse when driving in wet weather – with races such as the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix (a race Vettel, Hamilton, Räikkönen, and Alonso all took part in) conducted over a full distance in arguably worse heavy rain conditions than those seen in at Spa.
[104] Russell's performance in qualifying was praised and considered the high point of the weekend by pundits Edd Straw and Scott Mitchell.
[105][106] Journalist David Tremayne also praised Russell's performance, suggesting it was an indication that he was ready to step up to Mercedes seat for the 2022 season.
[109] However, fellow journalist Joe Saward in his blog stated that he felt the FIA handled the situation as best they could within the parameters of the regulations even if the scenario was not ideal, noting the fans suffered.
He included the additional stipulation that at least 25% of the laps completed before race-end must be done under green flag conditions for a race to be considered eligible for points-scoring of any kind.
"[116] Journalist Luke Smith also advocated changing rules whilst saying the podium celebrations of Verstappen and Russell in particular were "tone deaf", and contrasted them to Hamilton's restrained reaction.
"[123] Formula One Management stated in the race aftermath that it intended to have discussions with the teams and the FIA regarding changes to sporting regulations to prevent such an occurrence from happening again.
[126][127] In January 2022, McLaren CEO Zak Brown cited the aborted Spa race, alongside the last minute cancellation of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix and the controversial restart at the subsequent 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as signs that the FIA had suffered organisational and rule-making problems for a significant period of time which needed to urgently be resolved.
[129] The commission then recommended that the matter be discussed further at the next meeting of the FIA's Sporting Advisory Committee to set out proposals for regulatory and procedural changes regarding the awarding of points at shortened races.
[134] In February 2022, the Formula One Commission approved rule changes, ahead of the start of the 2022 championship: the new points scoring criteria for shortened races was introduced.
[138] Starting in the 2022 season, Formula One began exploring the possibility of introducing wet-weather specific wheel arches to improve visibility and with it the raceability of cars in wet conditions.
[140] Pirelli have responded to this continued criticism by proposing the introduction of a third wet weather (colloqially dubbed a "super-intermediate" tyre by RaceFans) possibly to serve as an in-between step between the existing Intermediate and Full Wet tyres in an attempt to give drivers an opportunity to go at racing speed in wetter conditions.
[143] However, this was deemed not successful with Ben Anderson and Scott Mitchell-Malm writing for The Race remarking the spray guard idea could be indefinitely delayed or abandoned.