for some 10 or more years, i've been complaining that the governence structure of formula one was broken. well, the events at the US GP in Indianapolis put that point home so forcefully that F1 in the US may never recover.
To provide some context for my opinions: for more than 10 years, i've been working as a scrutineer (tech inspector) with the Sport Car Club of America. at the present time i am the chief of tech for both the mohawk-hudson and new york regions, and i did a stint of 3 years as the divisional administrator for the northeast division. i've spent a lot of time at the race track, and a chunk of that has been spent in direct contact with administrative issues.
i am absolutely stunned by the fact that the people promoting what is in theory the highest level of motorsport in the world lost sight of the fact that their function was to put on a race. and that's what it comes down too - the officials running F1 got so caught up in their importance that they forgot about what it is they were supposed to be officiating.