Ferrari supports F1 refuelling despite fire

"I have to rely on my crew in situations like that and there was in my mind never any doubt whatsoever," he said. "I have the best mechanics in the pitlane and rely on them completely. It was super the way they handled the situation."

The world champion calmly wiped fire extinguisher foam off his visor as he drove out of the pits after the incident. "It was a bit hard to see because there were a lot of dead bugs on the visor already and the foam from the fire extinguishers," he said.

Despite the inherent dangers, Ferrari bosses have come out in favour of refuelling during grands prix. "If you had no kind of refuelling you would go into the race with almost 200 kilos of fuel in the car so it would raise other problems. The simple fact is that motorsport is dangerous," said sporting director Jean Todt.

"We should keep it as it is. We have to understand what happened and improve in order not to have the problems again but refuelling is part of Formula One. In fact, I'm full of admiration about the safety we manage to have."

"What we saw today is necessarily a crucial event in the decision we make to carry on refuelling or not," said technical director Ross Brawn, "but the whole Formula One car is a whole technical exercise and the refuelling rig is obviously a part of it."

Former Ferrari driver Niki Lauda also praised the efforts of Schumacher's mechanics, saying that he would normally expect some panic: "Usually the Italians panic in such situations. This time they remained cool and solved it perfectly, just like Michael did in the car," he said.