More than 12-hours after the farce that passed for the 2005 United States Grand Prix - the event that made grand pricks of all motorsport fans, not to mention sponsors, broadcasters, race organizers et al… - I am still seething with anger, angry that my beloved sport should be reduced to this.

I have been saying for many years that those within 'Planet Paddock' have lost touch with the real world. Despite their professed love of the sport, cocooned within their motorhomes, private jets and state-of-the-art factories, these people have lost all idea of what is happening in the real world.

At a time when Geldof and friends are demanding that poverty be made history, it should be remembered that the annual budget for many F1 teams would ease the financial burden of even the hardest hit African nation. Yet still they are not satisfied.

As someone who has followed this sport for almost 40 years - the first Grand Prix I attended was back in 1966 - I am utterly disgusted that my sport, our sport, should be treated with such utter contempt.

The thing that really angers me, is not what actually happened on Sunday afternoon at the so-called 'home of motor racing', but the cynical way in which 'the protest' was executed.

The sight of men - many of them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams - huddled together in small groups on the grid, nodding at one another, patting each other on the back, knowing fool well what was about to happen, fills me with contempt. Who are these dreadful self-obsessed egotists that they feel they can act in such a way?

There was absolutely no need for this to happen, and certainly it didn't have to be the eleventh hour affair that it was. A group of spoiled multi-millionaires decided to take their squabble on to a world stage, showing utter disregard for the feelings of millions around the world, and have, in turn, done irrevocable damage to motorsport.

But this Talking Point isn't merely about how I feel my sport, and fellow fans, have been betrayed, I want to hear your views, not merely on yesterday's events, but also what you believe brought us to this point. I cannot remember such a similar incident in any other sport, so why Formula One?

I want to hear your views on what we have witnessed in the last 24-hours, and what F1 needs to do to prevent further damage.

Finally, may I just say, that personally - I stress personally - the root cause of yesterday's problem, other than the fact that team bosses, and many others involved in F1, lost touch with reality many, many years ago, lies with Michelin's failure to produce the correct (safe) tyre for the event. Having failed to do this, they, and the teams that they supply, wanted to have the rules changed. In all honesty, had it been Bridgestone - and thereby Ferrari - that had got it wrong, are we to believe that Michelin and its partner teams would have acted accordingly? I think not.

Chris Balfe
Editor

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Seb Harvey

Yesterday I was an F1 fan... Today I'm not.