Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe has stressed the importance of understanding and respecting the safety concerns behind the decision to abandon second practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Following limited running in a rain-hit first session -- which had to be postponed on two occasions because the medical helicopter was unable to operate -- the second session was abandoned on safety grounds as a result of smog and low cloud surrounding the nearest hospital in Shanghai, meaning the helicopter could not land.
Lowe insists that while the lack of on-track action was frustrating for Formula One teams and fans alike, it is crucial to understand the reasoning behind the decision to abandon the session.
"It's a great shame for the fans here today," Lowe said. "We've got some fantastic fans in China, who are so enthusiastic for the sport and its personalities and they were denied some excitement on the track. I think we definitely have to look at it. There is an important history behind this, going back to the 1980s.
"I think it was the accident with [Elio] de Angelis in testing [1986], where there was a suspicion that if there had been a helicopter he would have been in better shape. Since then they've put this rule in place and of course it's become a lot more sophisticated as well. I think we should understand the importance behind it and respect that first and foremost."
In this instance, the quickest way to the local hospital was by helicopter, with FIA race director and safety delegate Charlie Whiting saying the nearest hospital in Shanghai is around 38km away with no direct road access. Under the FIA's sporting code a driver evacuation from the track "must not, in normal conditions, exceed approximately 20 minutes", meaning FP2 could not go ahead.
Williams head of vehicle performance, Rob Smedley, added that further logistical problems could be created by moving specialist facilities closer to the circuit in an attempt to act as a solution to the situation.
"I think it is really for neurological trauma, which they don't usually have the facility to do here at the circuit, or the people," Smedley explained. "Obviously if you have the people here then the people aren't in the local hospitals and that means that if they are needed in local hospitals that's another problem.
"I don't know what the solution is, that's something a little bit more difficult to work out. What we do need to do is this happens once a year that we sit here and do nothing and the fans that come to watch the Formula One cars or the drivers, they don't get to see them."