DC joins criticism of race stoppage

Race officials decided to put out the red flags after Ferrari's world champion-elect Michael Schumacher crashed out on the first lap at the first bend and shards of carbon fibre were left littering the track. The delay meant that the reigning world champion had time to get in the spare and re-take fourth place on the grid.

In the end it had no bearing on the result because Schumacher retired with fuel feed problems and Coulthard retired with an engine failure, but the McLaren-Mercedes driver pleaded for more consistency in decision-taking.

"They don't normally bring out the red flags unless someone is hurt," he said. "My first concern was the safety of the drivers. I want to win - but with everyone out there racing.

"As far as I am concerned we had already run over the debris once to pick up the safety car, so they had more than two minutes to sweep the circuit (before we came round again).

"A lap time here behind a safety car can quite easily been two-and-a-half minutes. They could have cleaned that up so we could have driven through. If they knew the drivers were okay there was no need to red flag.

"If you were cynical you would say the race was restarted because Michael was out of the race in front of his home crowd," he added, echoing the veiled sentiments of Jacques Villeneuve (see separate story).

But he admitted it was a tough call for race director Charlie Whiting to make.

"Someone has to make a decision and we all have to live with those decisions. It's a very responsible position," said the Scot. "But it's so unusual to have a red flag now, especially when a driver is unhurt. I find it - with the limited information I have at the moment - difficult to accept.

"We had already run over the debris. The red light came on as I went across the debris, so it wasn't as if other cars were backing up. And they had two-and-a-half minutes minimum to clean the track before we came round, or clean one side and let us go.

"I feel you've got to have consistency. With all respect, unless it is a driver hurt, then they don't normally stop races for accidents or injuries off the track. That's not normally a reason. I feel quite strongly we should have consistency.

"There are lots of races which would have benefited from having red flags because you want to see all the cars race. You don't want to see the cars pile into the first corner and go off.

"Jacques Villeneuve has already said he was surprised by the decision. Jacques made a good point that the most dangerous point is the start. I've raced here in the last 10 years, and the run down to the first chicane with all the cars close together, it is the most dangerous period of this Grand Prix.

"I've tried not to be cynical," he concluded. "I haven't had a chance to see all the facts, but once I have seen all the facts then maybe it will be as clear as the balls on a dog why they put red flag out. But at the moment I'm struggling to see them."