Race should have been stopped: Gary Anderson

Gary Anderson, Jordan's Director of Race and Test Engineering, thinks that the Australian Grand Prix should have been stopped after the first corner pile up that removed so many cars from the event.

Seconds after the start there was chaos as Ralf Schumacher's Williams launched off the rear of Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari and flew into the air. The resulting scramble to avoid the debris resulted in over half a dozen other cars being rendered unusable, although luckily no-one was hurt.

The safety car in front of David Coulthard.

Photo by DaimlerChrysler.

Rather than red flag the race, the safety car was deployed while the debris was cleared away -- many drivers dashed back to the pits in the hope of rejoining in spare cars but with the race still technically under way, that was not an option.

According to Anderson, the decision not to stop the race ruined it for the spectators as so few cars were left to compete -- by the time the chequered flag came down there were only eight finishers -- whereas if the race had been restarted it would have been better.

"The decision not to stop the race was absurd," said Anderson. "What good is that to the millions of people watching across the world. It's the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life. We've all got spare cars and we could have had 18 or so cars running around when the reality is that by the end of the race there could have been nobody left!"