Eric Thompson: Safety car rains on F1's parade

Yet another boring, from the racing perspective anyway, Formula One race over the weekend, this time the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The season started with racing that was more effective than taking a handful of sedatives and Valencia was no better.

The talking point from the weekend was not that Sebastien Vettel won, but rather Mark Webber's monster crash and yet again, another safety car issue.

I thought F1 was about racing, not who crashed and the rules surrounding safety cars. Mind you the safety car issue gave the whinger of all whingers, Fernando Alonso, something to complain about.

Although Alonso's whining puts my teeth on edge there is a point to be made, and in part it's not all about the safety car. I think it's more indicative than that - Alonso couldn't improve on his position because the track is crap and drivers can't pass, as Webber found out.

The Aussie tried to pass Heikki Kovalainen - who was going so slow he must have been scrabbling around looking for something on the floor of his Lotus - but instead used the back of the Finn's car as skateboard ramp to launch himself into space.

Why the FIA (read Bernie Ecclestone here and not president Jean Todt) insists on making F1 cars race on the streets of a city is so far beyond me it's in another solar system. These cars aren't built to be flung around a street circuit at breakneck speeds mere inches from concrete walls.

In fact, not a lot of race cars are unless it's a Nascar or a V8 Supercar. They're built like bricks whereas an F1 car falls apart if you sneeze too close to it.

The series already has a street race; it's called the Monaco Grand Prix and it's steeped in history and glamour and it's the race where drivers can parade around for one event in the season. Valencia, on the other hand, is a half-arsed place with nothing going for it and no motor racing pedigree, having only started in 2008.

If the organisers want to introduce a decent street event, bring back the original Spa-Francorchamps and Nordschleife (Nurburgring) circuits. Those two are men's street circuits, not something the wife drives along to go shopping at the mall.

Have you also noticed that the only really interesting racing, with lots of passing, only happens when it rains? There have been a couple of cracking races this year in the wet with passing, lots of pit stops, lead changes and so on.

So note to Bernie; install sprinkler systems on all the circuits in the calendar. When it looks like a race is going to be as boring as bat guano, flick the switch and watch the fun and games begin.

Oh, on a final note to F1 drivers - stop complaining about the safety car. You all know that you're not allowed to pass it under any circumstance, nor speed when it's on the circuit.

In an effort to help, using a piece of Kiwi ingenuity, tape a picture of what it looks like to your steering wheel. It's a silver Mercedes with a roof and covered wheels. You guys drive an open-wheel car with no roof, so to keep it simple, only pass cars with no roof - easy.

So when the safety car appears next time during a race Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Nico Hulkenberg, Robert Kubica, Vitaly Petrov, Adrian Sutil, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sebastien Buemi and Pedro de la Rosa, who all received penalties for safety-car rule infringements, will know what not to do.