Editing Duration of the race (section)

== Discretionary decision not to resume ==
If a race has been suspended (i.e. a red flag has occurred), and it is not possible to resume the session, then the race is considered to have concluded for each car as it crossed the control line to conclude the lap prior to the lap in which the decision to suspend was made.<ref>Sporting Regulations, art 58.14.</ref>  

The Sporting Regulations do not provide specific guidance for when such a decision not to resume is to be made, but it presumably occurs where the clerk of the course believes that the track will at no point be able to be negotiated safely, and competitors or officials are placed in immediate physical danger by cars running on the track (the trigger for a suspension).<ref>Sporting Regulations art 57.1.</ref> 

This scenario is practically unlikely to occur, as it will be ordinarily desirable to wait until the three-hour time period has elapsed in the hope that the session can be resumed. In the 2021 Belgium Grand Prix, a decision not to resume was made after it became apparent that weather conditions would not improve sufficiently to complete any racing laps during the overall time period.