Fisichella: Stewards Decision was Ridiculous

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was disappointed after being forced into retirement at the first corner of the Australian Grand Prix, but more so by the race stewards' decision not to stop the race.

Fisichella, starting from eighth place with his Honda-powered Jordan, was taken out of the race by Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, who crashed into his car after cutting across the grass while trying to avoid trouble following a collision between Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.

Eight drivers retired as a consequence of the start incident and Fisichella believes that the decision not to stop the race was "ridiculous."

"When I saw Ralf go flying through the air, I slowed down to avoid the collision, but was hit by Heidfeld who hadn't slowed down and had gone off into the gravel and lost control of his car," said Fisichella. "It isn't in the first corner that you win the race, so I am not too happy with what he did.

"To be fair to him he came up to talk to me after the race and explained that he just lost control of the car when he saw Ralf go off. I also think it is ridiculous that the race wasn't stopped as most of the drivers were left to watch the race on TV."

Jordan teammate Takuma Sato, making his Grand Prix debut this weekend, was unable to finish his first race after suffering a gearbox problem.

"I seem to have gone through quite a lot this weekend, except a proper qualifying, so it has been a very exciting and interesting experience which I hope will set me up well for a better weekend in Malaysia," he said.