Following today's meeting of the Formula One commission, the FIA and the team bosses appear to be sending out mixed signals.

On the one hand it has been agreed to retain a qualifying format which virtually everyone agrees is damaging the sport, the team bosses claiming that a change mid-season might be seen as a knee-jerk reaction and negative. However the format has already been changed twice since the end of 2003, when a brand new format was introduced in an attempt to 'spice up' the show following the serious damage done to F1's credibility in 2002.

Meanwhile, whilst claiming that he is concerned with rising speeds, and thereby the safety aspect, Max Mosley announces that in future if a car stalls on the grid the start will not be aborted, as is currently the case.

Speaking following the outcry over the failure to stop the American Grand Prix, after a four-car accident at the first corner, the FIA claimed that the start is the most dangerous part of a race and that this is why, when possible, it tries to avoid re-starts.

However, a week later, in what appears to be a clear case of putting out the fire with gasoline, it is revealed that, should a car have a problem on the starting grid, the driver will signal the officials and the marshals will wave their yellow flags to warn other drivers. However in the interest of TV schedules, the start will not be aborted.

It remains to be seen what the Grand Prix Drivers' Association will make of this, and hopefully they will make a stand.

We have already said that in America, Formula One was riding its luck.

Nobody wins forever.