"For that to have happened you would have needed a chicane to be put in place," he said. "It was a technical issue that was certainly unforeseen and that affected all but six cars. The chicane should have been accommodated - there was plenty of time to do that. The governing body has to be open to some kind of compromise when faced with unique or unusual situations of this kind. Especially so in this part of the world."

"A crisis emerged at a time when F1 does not need this kind of negative element being introduced. I was sat in a suite with some very important business figures and they could not understand why something could not have been arranged to allow the race to go ahead in some sort of normality. You would not allow the drivers to go out with a set-up that potentially could lead to a dangerous situation on the track. There will be another time when something like this arises. Hopefully when it does, a better solution will be found. What is clear is that F1 cannot afford too many days like this. Especially days like this that can be avoided."