dgz924s

The whole problem I see is Indy itself. It is a ROVAL and the only one F1 ever raced on. Had there not been the long roval section at WOT this tire issue would not be an issue.
I never was a fan of running at Indy just because it is not a true road course.
I always felt this GP should be held at Watkins Glen or Road Atlanta or Road America. If they had, these tire issues would be more to what the cars are set up for. But to take a tire that has been technically set up specific to the car suspension and not the track lends the result you did see. There is no way the teams could have used BS tires because of all the technology is set up for Michelins and visa versa.
Then there are contracts signed to run a tire so politics play a huge role. The Michelins are running fine at all the other tracks so I feel this is a ROVAL issue.

Just a fiasco IMHO.

Bill935K3

As Hobbs said “a problem in the 1st year could be understood not the 6th”. The track and the teams are harmless in this. The race should have be staged with a chicane and a tire change stop with proper penalty. The Bridgestone teams would have gotten the points and the others would have fought for the scraps.

It will be interesting to see how Michelin handles this disaster. I stirred the pot (in my very small way!) with this letter to their US commercial site. FYI there motorsports site is down except for a press release. I wonder if they do will like Eccelstone who bailed from the track mid race and did not face the issue.

“Your firm failed to meet it's obligation to provide proper tires for the USGP yesterday. A correct decision RE safety does not release you from your obligation. The ticket holders, the track and the teams were let down by you. If Michelin does not step up and make good to the 100K+ fans for there tickets and travel (my estimate ($300-$500) per fan you will never see your tires on any of my eighteen vehicles and I will move all customers possible away from your radial earth mover tires.
Bill Chadwick Pres/GM”
Baker Tractor Corp.

Flat Top

Nuff Said.

(Hope the JPEG works better than the word doc).

ColorChange

The biggest thing I am dissapointed about was the lack of clarity from the announcers on the situation. Michelin made a horrible mistake. The only thing they should have done is gone out and changed tires as necessary. Now, if the teams didn't have enough tires (about 10 sets) for each team, you can't race.

If they couldn't race with NO changes, they sit. The FIA is absolutely correct in changing nothing! The rules and demands are very clear. Running the race with Michelin teams out of the points is also rediculous, even without the unacceptable chicane. What would stop one of the top teams from making sure that Ferarri doesn't finish? This would have be a mess!

It is very simple, if you screw up and can't race, you don't race. The FIA did the right thing, which was nothing! Maybe next time Michelin will bring a tire suitable to race on! All negative energy should be focused on the only remotely guilty party ... Michelin!

Larry Herman

But Bill, I thought that Michelin air freighted in tires that they felt would safely go the distance. Logically, these could not have been a faster tire than what they originally brought, but the FIA would not let them change to that tire. They could have even told them to change to those tires under the green, for safety reasons, and still would have been adherent to their stupid tire rule. But the FIA just said no.

From a racers standpoint, would any of you out there have gotten in that car with those suspect tires?

Jean

Part of the response from the FIA to Michelin's letter:

"We are very surprised that this difficulty has arisen. As you know, each team is allowed to bring two different types of tyre to an event so as to ensure that a back-up (usually of lower performance) is available should problems occur. It is hard to understand why you have not supplied your teams with such a tyre given your years of experience at Indianapolis. "

"No doubt you will inform your teams what is the maximum safe speed for their cars in Turn 13. We will remind them of the need to follow your advice for safety reasons. We will also ask them to ensure their cars do not obstruct other competitors. "

"Another possibility would be for the relevant teams repeatedly to change the affected tyre during the race (we understand you have told your teams the left rear is safe for a maximum of ten laps at full speed). If the technical delegate and the stewards were satisfied that each change was made because the tyre would otherwise fail (thus for genuine safety reasons) and that the relevant team were not gaining an advantage, there would be no penalty. If this meant using tyres additional to a teams’ allocation, the stewards would consider all the circumstances in deciding what penalty, if any, to apply"

Seems reasonable to me, the teams just did not want any penalties!. It certainly is not a good position to be in for Michelin or the teams, but much better than having the fans go back home.

wombat7

I can't believe Ferrari had the audacity to refuse the chicane. Yes it would hav ebeen catering to the michelin teams, but as my friend who works for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing put it "we are just a circus going around a track at 200+." Racing is purely for entertainment and the series should do everything they can to put the full amount of cars on the track to give their paying costumers what they came for. By refusing the chicane, Ferrari proved that they are still the bullies of F1. They were the ONLY team to refuse in Australia when Minardi were having problems. What does it hurt them, obvioulsy the Michelins are having problems with the course so the bridgestones probably would've been faster anyway.

Yet another reason why I hate Scuderia Ferrari.

Bob Rouleau

The FIA decision ignored one important factor - the show! There were 180,000 fans who deserved to see a race. FIA showed a total lack of respect for them. Faced with extraordinary circumstances, they could have:

Allowed all teams to start on fresh tires, The teams on Bridgestone would have an advantage but there would be a race.

Used the chicane - all teams but one accepted the idea. Note that teams on Michelin tires accepted to score no points for the race and all start behind the cars on Bridgestone. This suggests that the Michelin shod teams were willing to give the fans what they paid for.

As for Michelin - yes, they made a mistake. Hey, mistakes happen. I admire the way Michelin handled themselves, they admitted the mistake and did everything possible to rectify it. Rather than avoid Michelin, I am inclined to support them, they dealt with a problem honorably and I'm impressed.

Rgds,

mamoroso

Everybody here has made good observations...

I still think that Ferrari should have accepted the chicane and zero points for the Michelin equipped cars. After all it's a show.... I think things changed at Ferrari with the arrival of Jean Todt. He's a business man, he does not care about the show. They are in F1 to win. And everything is a function of that... Remember Barrichello letting Schumacher through?
In the last few years Scuderia Ferrari has been often in the middle of controversy...

I am from Milan... used to be one of the "tifosi" at Monza and Imola every year... But this is not the Ferrari I like to see... For me winning is not always everything.

Jean

Bob The FIA of course wanted the teams to participate, they actually suggested that penalties would be considered and maybe waived for changing tires...It is the teams who unilaterally decided because they did not want to cope with penalties and time loss.

Was there an official position from Michelin teams that they accepted to run without scoring? That would change perceptions a bit.

Finally, It is the FIA who refused to build a chicane, I am sure following consultations and the refusal of Ferrari probably, but here is the text, response from FIA:

"Finally, it has been suggested that a chicane should be laid out in Turn 13. I am sure you will appreciate that this is out of the question. To change the course in order to help some of the teams with a performance problem caused by their failure to bring suitable equipment to the race would be a breach of the rules and grossly unfair to those teams which have come to Indianapolis with the correct tyres. "

wombat7

I agree that it would've been grossly unfair to the teams that brought correct tires, but, as everyone has said, the Michelin teams agreed to run without scoring. Ferrari doesn't care about the show that they promised to give the fans. As I said in my previous post, Scuderia Ferrari are bullies. They will do anything it takes to win including screwing the North American, especially American, fans out of a race. This is the only race in the United States and because of the problems and the lack of a compromise by the FIA and Ferrari, the future of F1 in the United States is once again uncertain. I really hope that if IMS decides they don't want F1 and the FIA back that they dont' penalize the new series that is forming once the Concorde agreement is up.

RJay

Do you honestly think that if it had been Bridgestone with the problems that the Michelin teams would have allowed the chicane? I can't blame Ferrari a bit in this. From their perspective, A) why should they risk an on-track incident with "unsafe cars". If they had a race incident would they still get points? B) It would be a far worse PR situation for them if they finished 7th & 9th but wound up 1 & 2 on the podium. C) How do think the crowd would have reacted, if Montoya, say finished first, and Schumacher stood atop the podium at the ceremjony? I don't blame them a bit for not wanting any part of those scenarios.

All of the Michelin runners were quick to point out that there was no animosity on their part toward the Bridgestone runners. What happened was an untenable situation as Michelin was unable to supply a backup tire. I can not fault the teams for refusing to compete and I can't fault the FIA for enforcing the rules. Each was doing its job properly. All of the blame for this rest squarely on Michelin. To my mind, it is unfair to try to lay it elsewhere

Oh and as to the Minardi incident, they were just trying to pull a fast one. Minardi had the '05 bodywork, thye just didn't want to run it as they were slower. In the end Minardi relented and ran Australia in the 05 configuration. Explain to me why they should have been allowed to violate the rules, which again where well known in advance? Because they are a cute little team who hasn't a hope of winning? then where do you draw the line?

wombat7

All that I am trying to get a across is if Ferrari had agreed to let the teams run with the chicane, the paying customers would've gotten what they paid for. Yes it is ultimately Michelin's fault I'm not disputing that fact. It is just very upsetting that the American people, and everyone else who came to see the race, were cheated out of it. My girlfriend and I were going to buy tickets but since money is a little tight and neither of us could justify spending the money to go to the race we went on Saturday instead. I was happy and felt like I got my $20 worth, but how can the people who spent the big bucks for race tickets justify only seeing 6 cars on track, 4 of which had no hope of competing for the win.

I realize that there is no animosity between the Michelin teams and the Bridgestone teams, but that's fine because they all get paid in the end anyway. Its the fans that were cheated this weekend, many of them took time off of work to come and see that race so they were already making a sacrifice on top of the money that they shelled out for the tickets and got screwed. That's the bottom line. The FIA and Formula 1 agreed to provide the paying ticket holders with a service and they did not do what they said they would. This in theory could be concidered breaking their contract, which is why the Hulman-George family is looking into the future of F1 in Indianapolis. I can't wait until the major teams break from the FIA and start a series of their own, hopefully one without all the bull**** and red tape.

Jarez Mifkin

Yes.


I also agree that if Bridgestone had the tire issue then they would've been SOL. Just like at the Spanish GP earlier this year.

To all of you who boo Ferrari, Jordan, and Minardi: Shame on you! If you were at a Club Race and your competition found out his tire wasn't going to last the whole race unless a chicane was added, would you allow it? Of course not. You were prepared and he wasn't, end of story.

P.Po

Larry,

I want to address your statement about the track regrind being the source of the failuers. Altough you bring up a very good point, the SpeedTV anouncers said the potential failures where because of a different cause. It is believed that the failure was occouring at the intersection between the sidewall and the tread. Unlike a lot of our tires, these two pieces are distinct and then bonded together. The tire could not withstand the speed on the banked corner and would seperate between the tread and sidewall. The interesting point is that the Michelin tire has failed NUMEROUS times in this exact same way this year. In racing and qualifying/practice situations. I can remember a few Michelin shod cars, espescially early in the season, driving back to the pits just on the sidewalls with no tread face at all. Now the track re-grind may not be the direct cause but I could see how the extra grip may effect the tire integrity.

Another interesting point is that Firestone has run on the oval earlier this year and perhaps Bridgestone took some information from that....

Why would anyone blame Ferrari? The FIA stated that if the track puts in a chicane they would not consider the event an official race. Ferrari showed up, ready to race, spent the money to race.... they deserve a points race. Besides, Paul Stodart(Minardi) stated in the press it was Jordan(Midland), not Ferrari that more or less forced Minardi to race. Blaming Ferrari for this is childish... Blame Michelin for not being able to build a tire to stand up during the race.

anyhow,
Patrick