In my humble opinion, Formula One can consider itself very lucky at this time.

Race commentators would have us believe that today Formula One "finally delivered", whereas in we simply saw another Ferrari rout, together with a number of high profile incidents.

It's a sad fact that many people are attracted to F1, and indeed motor sport, by the accidents, or at least the chance of one, that however is not something I will go into at this time.

What worries me is that Formula One still seems to be taking massive risks, and in some ways hasn't learned from the lessons of the past.

First, let's take Ralf Schumacher's horrific crash early in today's race - notice that I refuse to use nouns such as 'shunt' or smash'. The accident was bad enough, but what was even worse was the sight of the German stuck in his car in the middle of the track, for what seemed like ages, as the event continued, albeit behind the safety car.

As one who still believes that debris from the start-line crash played a contributory part in Ayrton Senna's fatal crash at Imola, I am always uneasy when races are allowed to continue after major pile-ups such as that witnessed at the start of today's race.

Both Fernando Alonso and Ralf crashed, on successive laps, as a result of tyre failures, most likely caused by debris from the earlier incident. Had the race been stopped the track could have been cleared properly… but then that might have interfered with TV schedules, and we all know how important they are.

As the cars continued behind the safety car, debris was still visible, then once the race got underway again, Alonso and Ralf had major accidents almost immediately, yet the race continued.

OK, so they decided to bring out the safety car rather than stop the race, but couldn't they have taken the field through the - extra wide - Indianapolis pitlane, in order to allow the medical and emergency crews easier access to Ralf's stricken WilliamsF1? Was it really necessary to leave him stranded like that for quite so long?

The sight of the safety car, and the remainder of the field, weaving through the debris was alarming, to say the least. And in my (humble) opinion we are all lucky that we didn't witness an incident of tragic proportions today.

Finally, I find it hard to believe that a sport as sophisticated as F1, can make an error as fundamental as allowing a driver to compete 57 laps before informing him that he has been disqualified, having failed to get to his T-car within the allotted number of seconds. Is it any wonder that Americans shun the sport?

Maybe I'm wrong - it wouldn't be the first time - but do you think the race should have been stopped? Do you worry that the sport might be getting a little complacent again, with regards safety, and what's your 'spin' on Juan Pablo's black-flag?

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Chris Balfe
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