Sebastian Vettel was unhappy his calls for a red flag went unheard prior to Lando Norris' crash in Q3 during Belgian Grand Prix qualifying.
After Q1 and Q2 took place in drying conditions, a heavy downpour hit Spa-Francorchamps before the start of the top 10 shootout forcing all cars back onto full wet tyres.
However, even those couldn't stop drivers from aquaplaning at critical areas of the circuit, most notably on the approach to Eau Rouge where Norris went off into the barrier at high speed.
“Yep. Well. What the f**k did I say? What did I say! Red flag! It's unnecessary,” Vettel said to his engineer when informed of the McLaren driver's accident.
The four-time world champion would stop to check on Norris at the top of the hill before continuing after getting a thumbs up, but that still didn't appease his frustration with FIA race director Michael Masi.
“I think Michael is not proud of what happened either in qualifying," he said via Crash.net.
"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."
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Assessing the early track conditions in Q3, Vettel added: “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.”
As for his own qualifying, the Aston Martin driver will line up a strong fifth on the grid at Spa, a circuit he's won at three times before.
“I went wide in Turn 8 [Rivage] 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 said.
“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.”
