Trulli, Briatore Apologise to Fans

The Italian, who claimed Toyota's maiden pole position, was clearly disappointed with the way events had turned out but believed there was no other option for the Michelin runners.

"It is a big frustration for the whole team, the drivers, and F1 is general - especially in front of the US fans that we could not avoid this situation," he told ITV.

"It was quite a complicated situation I must say because on one hand we had some teams on Bridgestone saying everything is fine for us, this track is fine for us and if not for you then you cannot compete.

"Unfortunately we have had a problem and it is difficult to understand. Honestly we could not race like that for F1 and also for the fans."

When asked what message he believed the action had sent out, he said: "I think F1 has sent a message that the first priority is safety and today we proved that we are sensible people, and someone has made a mistake.

"We are sorry for the fans but we could not race."

Renault boss Flavio Briatore added: I'm sorry for the public, I'm sorry for the spectators, I'm sorry for the people watching TV, but for sure we just were not able to race today.

"This was a technical problem for Michelin and it was not possible. We want to race - we don't care if Ferrari were in front - but we want to race only if it's safe for the drivers. "