New Red Bull boss 'surprise' over key FIA decision: 'We waited for the sun to come out'

New Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has questioned his former employers after being left 'surprised' by a decision that also drew heavy criticism from leading drivers Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. The major talking point of the Belgian Grand Prix proved to be the questionable call made by FIA race director Rui Marques to delay the start of the race for 80 minutes, and when it did get going, the decision to run for four laps behind the safety car ahead of a rolling start. Seven-time F1 champion Hamilton said Marques' call was an "over-reaction" to what unfolded in the previous round at Silverstone where Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar collided in low visibility conditions. Four-time title-holder Verstappen agreed with his old rival, suggesting  Marques' call "didn't make sense", and that he might have well as waited to start the race on slicks. It was a decision that particularly went against Verstappen as Red Bull had set up its car to favour wet conditions. The Dutch driver, however, finished fourth after starting the race in that position as he was unable to find a way past Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari. Mekies, who started his tenure in charge with a Verstappen sprint win on Saturday after taking up the reins vacated by the axed Christian Horner, said: "I think we were all surprised by how late we started the race." The former FIA deputy race director and safety director added: "I'm sure the FA had its considerations, but certainly for us as a team, it surprised us. "Fundamentally, we waited not only for the rain to stop, but also for pretty much the sun to come out, and then we still had many laps behind the safety car. "Again, I'm sure the FIA had its reasons, but in our specific case, having biased the car towards wet running, it cost us performance but it's part of the game." Verstappen quali near-miss also a factor One factor behind Verstappen's result was the fact that he missed out on third place on the starting grid by 0.003s to Leclerc after making a couple of uncharacteristic small mistakes. Throw in the lack of wet-weather racing, and it added up to a disappointing Sunday for Mekies. "For us in terms of effectiveness, the fact that we got so little wet running didn't help," said the Frenchman. "We had made quite heavy choices thinking about a wet race. In the end, the rain came, but we didn't get much wet racing. For sure, it had an influence on the race. "In the dry,  at the end of the day, Max spent every single lap in Charles' gearbox, and we didn't have much overtaking. "And with our choices and downforce package, it was always unlikely we would pass in the dry. It is what it is. "You start fourth, beaten by three thousandths of a second by Charles, and you finish fourth."