Vettel stands by criticism of FIA after Norris' shunt in Spa F1 qualifying

On his out-lap in Q3, Vettel called for the red flag to be deployed due to the level of heavy rain falling at Spa-Francorchamps.

He was then informed Norris had crashed, leaving him to voice his frustrations over team radio.

“Yep. Well. What the f--- did I say? What did I say! Red flag! It's unnecessary,” he said to his engineer.

Reflecting on what happened in Q3, Vettel said after qualifying:  “I think Michael is not proud of what happened either qualifying. It’s always easy to play Captain Hindsight. But I think we need to find a way that we listen more to the information that we have. Inside the garage, it’s very limited, because it’s like looking out of the window. But three kilometres that way, I have no clue what is going on.

“When I went down to Eau Rouge and came up the hill, it was a lot of water and I was calling for a red flag. I think the truth is, the session should not have started at all. There’s plenty of things we could have done better. I think it’s better to be safe one time too many than one time too little. It’s good that nothing happened, that’s the main news, but it could have been a different outcome for Lando, and I’m not sure there’s anything he could have done.”

Vettel remained confused by the FIA’s decision to start Q3 as it initially delayed qualifying when conditions weren’t as treacherous.

“The trouble is, of course we are in control, and you can always say well if you feel unsafe, box,” Vettel explained. “But it’s sort of a weird situation because everybody is in the same position, and you don’t want to get kicked out, you want to progress. So that decision shouldn’t be really and entirely up to us.

“We delayed the session in the beginning when there was less water, so I don’t entirely understand why we did not just not start the session. As I said, it’s always easy afterwards, but the main thing is it doesn’t happen again.”

The four-time champion is set to start Sunday’s race from fifth, but he reckons a front-row start was possible had he not made a crucial error at Turn 8 on his final lap in Q3.

“I went wide in Turn 8 and actually off the track, so I think Daniel [Ricciardo] was no problem to get him, and we should have been maybe a little bit higher up,” Vettel added.

“So I’m very happy for George [Russell], but I think that’s maybe where we could have been as well, a little more in the mix. But I think it’s a great result for us, and I’m happy to start the race in a decent position.”