෴Formula 1 race director Michael Masi says a red flag was not needed during the Belgian Grand Prix in order to deal with the c♕rash involving Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell.

Giovinazzi crashed on his own exiting the Fagnes chicane a♏nd speared into the barriers on the right-hand side, before the oncoming Russell was also caught up in the incident as he looked to take evasive action.

Russell’s Williams was struck by a loose whee𝔉l that had torn itself off Gioviazzi’s car which sent the Briton into the wall on the left-hand side of the track.

Despite the large amount of debris spread across the track by the two cars, only a Safety Car was used in response to the crash𝓡. Masi defended the decision, saying it “wasn’t necessary to have a re🧜d flag”.

“A red flag is one of the many tools available to the race director, as is the Safety Car and the Virtual Safety🅘 Car,” Masi explained. “The marshals did a great job clearing a path through in the first instance quite quickly.

“Once the Safety Car line went through, there💃 was a very clear path through there. So, in my view, a red flag was not necessary.

“From the FIA perspective🐷 whenever an incident occurs it’s always something that we look at and ways that we can improve any circuit. So I don’t think it’s just a Spa matter, every single incident we see what improvements can be made.”

Lewis Hamilton aced the Safety Car🅠 restart on his way to cruising to his fourth win at Spa-Francorch♌amps and his fifth victory from the opening seven races of the 2020 season.

The Mercedes driver has subsequently extended his ch🌸ampionship lead to 47 points over Red Bull’♛s Max Verstappen.