rain stops play?

So this last weekend it was the South Korean Grand Prix.

Eventually.

You see, it rained and they decided to delay the race. When they eventually got going they set off behind the safety car, but they considered the rain and spray to be so heavy that they stopped the race.

So everyone lined up back on the grid and waited for the rain to ease, which took ages. Then it started to become apparent that unless they got the race under way, there was a severe risk of the sun setting. And F1 cars aren't fitted with headlights. Indeed, most tracks aren't even fitted with street lights, let alone the mega powerful lights they use when they have a proper night race a la Singapore.

That meant they had to start the race and again it got going under the safety car, which they followed around for ages. When proper racing finally got going the race was quite good, but it was apparent that it wasn't really any different to a normal wet race.

Now there were some extenuating circumstances. First off, the circuit was only just finished in the nick of time, which meant the tarmac was really new. And new racing tarmac can be quite slippery anyway, so adding rain may well have made them a bit too cautious.

Secondly, the pit lane entrance was really rather dodgy, with it forcing cars to slow down on the racing line. Add to that that section has concrete walls right next to the circuit (apparently, it's going to become a street circuit, because they're going to build a city around it :/) and you can see they might have wanted to be more cautious because adding spray into the mix might have been a bit dangerous.

But then the problem with that is that racing in the dark without lights is really dangerous and they let the full race length run, despite the fact that it meant they really were in the dark. Sunset was apparently 6:15 local time and the race finished later than that.

So if they were trying to minimise the impact of a wet race for safety, why then let it run full-length into the night? Especially when stopping it after three-quarters distance would still have given everyone full points.