There were several factors contributing to the problem.
1) Thousands of spectators trying to get in. The track has a 7 year lifespan before they turn it into a housing estate, they needed the extra time to get those spactators in.
2) First lap madness. Given the ability of 22 of the world's best drivers (or those able to pay a couple of million for a drive) to have an off track excursion on a dry track, imagine how many cars they could have chucked into the walls on a wet track,with no experience and unknown levels of grip.
3) As stated, no one has officially driven the track in the wet in an F1 car. The drivers needed to spend 10 laps finding out where the road / grip was...or particularly where it wasn't.
4) Boredom. If you have just paid £200 for a grandstand seat and all you have seen is them take the tyres off on the grid, would you come again?
5) Safety. You couldn't judge the state of the track from 'like other tracks' because they have never raced on a fresh surface in the wet. Can you imagine what a front runner piling off into a wall would have done to the rest of the grid who were running blind? How many dead drivers would be enough? Indeed, I think Webber was very lucky that he wandered across the track with such a lead. Had Alonso been half a second closer the wreck would have been in the middle of the track.
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