Ask Nigel Roebuck: June 30

Dear Doug,

The accident took place just to my left, and, like you, I thought it seemed a hell of a time before anyone arrived on the scene. And you're perfectly right in pointing out that, in any accident during the 500, rescue crews seem to be on the spot almost before the crashed car has come to rest.

Dealing with the last point first, I think we need to bear in mind that when a car crashes on an oval there is a virtually instantaneous 'yellow'. The lights flash, and all the drivers back off at once. Such is not the way of it in a grand prix - or, for that matter, in any race not on an oval. Obviously, when there is a 'yellow' on an oval, the drivers are immediately aware of the likelihood of rescue crews, in trucks, ambulances or whatever, appearing on the track.

My information at Indianapolis was that, as Ralf's accident occurred during a Grand Prix, all the decision-making was in the hands of 'F1 people', rather than Speedway personnel. It's a fact that the medical car had to do virtually a whole lap of the track before reaching the accident scene - but it's worth remembering that, in the 1973 Indy 500, a pit crew man was killed by a rescue vehicle going the wrong way down pit lane towards the scene of Swede Savage's dreadful accident at the exit of turn four.

Probably the other point worth making is that, while the Williams hit the wall (backwards) at close to maximum speed, once it had come to rest Ralf was immediately moving round in the cockpit. Indeed, David Richards mentioned this after the race when asked why he had not immediately brought Button and Sato in for fuel and tyres.

"Ralf came to rest immediately in front of our pit," said David, "and it looked as though he was essentially OK - certainly he was moving around. We didn't bring in Jenson and Taku because we thought the restart would come a lot sooner than it did."



Dear David,

Yes, I was indeed worried when the BBC lost the F1 contract to ITV, but I'll happily admit that most of my fears have been allayed. I can't abide the incessant loud 'music' in the build-up stuff, but that's just me - there's no escape from it anywhere in life today!

I'll also concede that, when I find myself watching a race on TV rather on the spot, the ads drive me nuts. There's nothing to be done about that, however - it was always going to be one of the downsides of coverage by ITV, rather than the BBC. I do, however, notice that never does it happen in the middle of a football match...

That said, I think ITV now does a splendid job of presenting F1 - and the other racing classes you mention. Jim Rosenthal is not only a delightful bloke, but one who has become a first-rate anchorman in a sport unfamiliar to him when he arrived. And Martin Brundle, as far as I'm concerned, is peerless at what he does - quiet and considered, yet never bland, and always ready to criticise where justified.

In the days when F1 was also shown on Eurosport, Ben Edwards was superb, I thought, very calm, organised and well-informed, yet never afraid to say what he thought. It was the same when he then commentated for several years on the CART series, and I don't doubt he would do an excellent job for ITV, should ever the opportunity arise.



Dear Tom,

Anthony Davidson has done a fine job for BAR this year - so often on Friday his name is up there among the Schumachers and Trullis and Montoyas, and whenever I go out on the circuit to watch, I'm struck by just how good he looks.

In any sort of sane world, you'd have to say his chances of landing a fulltime drive in 2005 are excellent, and I'd be very surprised if he didn't finish up with one somewhere. Whether or not it will be in a competitive team is a different matter, however. When I asked Patrick Head about Williams drivers for next year, he said this: "Every team goes through up periods and down periods - in other words, there are some years, when you perhaps have a 'customer' engine (as we did in 1998 and '99) or when you're beginning a relationship with a new engine partner, and you're pretty sure it's unlikely you're going to be winning races or championships. That's the ideal time to take a chance on a young driver - if he damages a car or two, it's probably not going to cost you many championship points.

"But if you have aspirations to challenging for the world championship - if, in other words, you think you're going to be very competitive - I think you want two experienced drivers on board."

History shows that top teams rarely take a chance on a young driver, although there are exceptions to that rule, like McLaren's taking Kimi Raikkonen a couple of years ago.

There's another thing, too. You ask why 'British talent such as Gary Paffett' gets overlooked, and I'm afraid to say that invariably it's because they don't have the sponsorship that the smaller teams require. Christian Klien, for example, indeed looked promising in F3, but I'm sorry, I simply don't believe he would have got the Jaguar drive without the Red Bull money.