After a long time waiting to get Formula One motor racing into the US, today’s fiasco could prove the final nail in its coffin.

It’s taken time to build the credibility of this sport – Indy 500 is probably the main motorsport in America and that was only slowly changing.

How can a farcical continuation of a race from which the majority of teams withdrew on a safety issue – whether or not the result stands – do F1s worldwide or US reputation any good?

The row has come about because the teams running Michelin tyres were concerned about the safety of the final corner, and agreed to race only if a chicane had been put in place. Bridgestone tyres are, apparently, immune to this safety issue, and so teams running these – including the ever-arrogant Ferrari (remember when they weren’t winning anything?) – called for the race to continue unaltered.

What this implies is: “We’re OK, we can race, we don’t care about the safety of drivers using ‘inferior’ tyres”.

That’s appalling!

F1 is dangerous enough as it is, without this kind of attitude when a genuine safety concern is raised.

I’m not surprised American fans have left in their droves. I wonder how many people are watching ITV coverage?

It’s hardly exciting.

Bizarre, yes.

Stupid, yes.

An advertisers nightmare. Yes.

This could seriously damage an already wounded sport – a sport where money is thrown around in great measure to the detriment of competition and interest.

I hope it does. Maybe it will knock some sense into team management who seem to care more for self-interest, sponsorship and money than sportsmanship and the interest of the fans.

Some hope.

Update 8.30pm: Michelin was unable to reproduce the problems that caused a couple of drivers running their tyres to crash during practice.

They wanted to fly in new tyres but FIA rules state that tyres cannot be changed during the weekend.

In other words, the FIA say that changing tyres to improve safety is not alowed.

Nice one FIA. How many crashes would have been on your conscience had Michelin-based teams chosen to drive?