Prost: "There was a mistake, that's clear"

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"It's just scary, I do not even recommend watching this video, but at least we understand exactly what happened," Prost told France's Europe 1 after viewing the widely circulated amateur video of the incident, which Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management group is working to have taken down from social media sites. "There was a mistake, that's clear. Whose? I still have a little doubt."

Prost said that he was distressed by the proximity to the accident scene of the marshall waving a green flag.

"The green flag should have been in this case at least 100 meters away," said Prost, who added that he thought the use of a tractor crane prior to the implementation of a Safety Car period was "totally unacceptable."

However, former F1 racer Emanuele Pirro, who serves as a driver steward for the FIA, insisted that having green flags waving at the next marshal post after an accident was done in full compliance with FIA regulations.

"Every accident is potentially avoidable and not necessarily because someone has done something wrong," he told the Italian media. "Suzuka is a circuit whose configuration means one must be very careful when it rains, as there are many rivers that are formed. Bianchi saw the [caution] flags and raised his [throttle] foot to the level of caution, but evidently it was not enough."

Fellow F1 veteran Mika Salo, who was the driver steward for the Japanese race, agreed with Pirro's assessment, telling Finnish broadcaster MTV3 that Bianchi was simply driving too fast in an area where double waved yellow flags had been displayed.

"No car should go out of control in that situation," Salo said. "I saw everything. There was way too much momentum."