21/06/2005
NEWS STORY
Frank Williams has admitted his regret at what happened at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, and stressed that he and his rivals were keen to race.
"The teams were desperate to race, to put on a show," the Englishman told Reuters. "Racing in North America is fundamental to Formula One's commercial health.
"We wanted to at least entertain the crowds," he continued. "We were prepared to race for no points and give them all to Ferrari. I can't stress enough how desperate we were."
It's not known exactly when the decision not to race was made, however the final decision rested on the installation of a temporary chicane at Turn 13.
"Bernie called Charlie (Whiting) on Saturday night and said get on with it," revealed Williams, who pointed out that there were several precedents, including the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, when a temporary chicane was placed at Eau Rouge.
Williams pointed out that he has first hand experience of what happens when things go wrong: "With this particular team, in 1970 Piers Courage was killed in the Dutch Grand Prix," he said.
"Ayrton died in 1994. Ralf narrowly escaped permanent paralysis (at Indianapolis in 2004) when he hit the wall. We take responsibility for safety extremely seriously."
WilliamsF1 is one of the seven teams that has been summoned to appear in front of the World Motor sport Council in Paris next week.