Lewis Hamilton reflects on delayed Monaco GP start

Lewis Hamilton has had his say on the decision to delay the start of the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.

F1 fans were unfortunately denied a potentially classic start to the race on Sunday as the heavens opened and Race Control opted to push the start of the race back, as they requested that each car changed from the tyres that they’d gone to the grid on to full wets – citing safety concerns that there’d been no wet running over the course of the weekend.

They were also monitoring a severe downpour that was on course for the circuit, but the real issue was a power outage that then pushed the start of the race back even further for a full hour, and meant that only a rolling start could be performed with the start systems needed for a standing start not fully functioning, as per The Race.

There was feeling, though, before the heavy rain that the race could have at least got started before potentially being brought to a pause, and Hamilton revealed that if the weather was the only reason to postpone the start that doesn’t really cut it when 20 of the best drivers in the world are involved:

“You think they didn’t do a good job? I was not saying it was a mistake – I don’t know the reason for them not sending us out at the get-go – but we are Formula 1 drivers so [the weather] is not a good enough reason,” Hamilton told the PA news agency.

“That’s what I was saying. I was like ‘let’s go’ when it was just drizzling a little bit at the beginning.

“We will talk about it in the drivers’ briefing but we should have started the race.”

Ultimately, the power cut was something that few could legislate for but perhaps there is a discussion to be held over the decision to push the race back initially before the chaos really unfolded.