The charges against the Teams

Any tyres flown over could have been tested by the 3rd team cars before the race to see how they stood up. There was time.

In the end, the teams did not race for safety reasons.

All the FIA enhancements/improvements to tracks (see San Marino) have been on safety grounds, so why for once when some teams decide not to race for safety reasons are the FIA not backing them.

I see it as 70% blame on Michelin for not supplying a suitable tyre, and 30% on the FIA for not reacting to the situation (by trying to call their bluff) and at least trying to resolve the situation and ghave a race

just my 2 cents

 

I find it interesting that the same team that let their driver run a defective tire at the European GP until it shattered the suspension is the same team that claims they couldn't start at Indy because the tires were unsafe. What does Ron Dennis stand for? Which way is the wind blowing?

No, the FIA did the right thing by not adjusting the rules to accomodate a group of poorly prepared teams.

 

The stewards WERE informed in time by all the teams running Michelin tires.

 

I don't know that to be a fact (havent seen a report form the stewards), but I guess we will find out around June 29th. According to the letter from the FIA charging they were in violation of this article, it seems they do not believe they were informed in time. Running the formation lap and warming tires implies you are going to race it seems. Again I hope there is not any further hearings and appeals, blah blah blah and we get back to racing and put this event behind us.

 

Source

My thoughts, FIA has stated what everone is arguing about. There are rules and they are not there to bend or break them, but uphold them. They upheld them to the letter of the law. This all points to Michelin and the Teams. It really is a catch 22 for the teams. They were damned no matter what.

 

The FIA should televise the hearing on the 29th. It should be more entertaining than the USGP.

The only way for the FIA to punish Michelin is for the FIA to punish the teams and then let the teams level charges of contractual violation against Michelin. I'm sorry to see the teams get involved, but it is just like construction defect lawsuits where the plaintiff goes after the general contractor and the general goes after the sub contractors who actually performed the work. The general has to rely on the sub, and in this case the teams had to rely on Michelin.

 

I don't think the teams will even show up in Paris next week! Why should they. If they show up Max will be gone. If they do not show then the rest of the season will be lost with a new originization taking over next year for a new series,

Bob

 

The fact is michelin already had data from Indy The course was not changed in configuration that would have made the data useless.

Michelin had tire issues last year and they simply did not learn from them. Also by only bringing 1 spec of tire. they did not give there teams the flexability to determine what compound would work best for there car setup.

The Toyotas were the only team that had tires go down in practice. With only 4 sets to use all week long. Just look at practice #2 the teams ran 20-35+ laps on there tires since they only have 2 sets of tires to use on Friday. Michelins claim that the tires could only go 10 laps is a bunch of BS!!!!!!!

The issue with the Toyotas was a set up issue that added to the stress on the L Rear tire. In fact Michelin advised that the teams change the set up to reduce the stresses.

Michelin has been blowing smoike up our A$$es all weekend long.

 

What a load of bollocks. The responsibility for the incident lies exclusively with the teams. They chose not to run, full stop, end of story. They had alternatives, alternative tyres, limiting speed through the turn, or running less downforce. I'm sure there techos could have actually speed limited the cars if they didn't believe their drivers had the skills to do so.
The FIA and Ferrari are clearly blameless in these circumstances. The only moral issue here is the other teams trying to deflect the blame for THEIR decisions to rob the fans and the sport of a race. They COULD have safely run, by limiting speed, or changing tyres regularly, but CHOSE not to do so.

All the inuendo implicating Ferrari and the mindless stupidity of people who can accept the blame being shifted to others is a joke.

 

I agree. Let me state this fact up front.

However, I do also think that in any sport, especially one involving such a high amount of risk, that it's every participant's prerogative whether they choose to take part or not. If the teams genuinely thought that there were serious doubts in the safety of their cars, and therefore their drivers, ultimately I don't think that the organisers should have the power to amerce them for dropping out.

Whether driver safety could or couldn't be guaranteed at Indianapolis, even with the FIA's suggested cautions, is difficult to determine. And all this blame shifting and finger pointing are becoming awkward (albeit very much in character with Formula One's political infestation).

The situation simply was: supplier made unreliable product; teams using product felt their safety could not be guaranteed; both appealed for an unrealistic fix (adding a chicane at the last minute is an absurd, not to mention unfair, solution); organisers told them, "We won't bend the rules for you; here's something else you can do"; teams pulled out, for whatever reason; fans got f*cked.

And in summary: Ferrari gets pulled into a ****-storm they had nothing to do with.

Thinking that the whole outcome was Ferrari's fault because they chose not to vote is lunacy. This was an issue that was strictly between the Michelin teams and the FIA, regardless who it would have ended up affecting.

Personally, I have nothing but respect for the FIA (on this matter) for not buckling to the pressure. But I also think that the teams had a right to pull out if their concerns truly were justified. As I've said before, ultimately this will all be chalked up as another catastrophic failure of this season's moronic rule changes.

 

There is a lot more to this thing than just tires. The teams that withdrew are think of starting a F1 of their own for lack of better words. Their is an article in the paper today to this effect. Their is a power struggle going on and it includes Ferrari in the other camp. Bernie is making too high a % and the teams want part of the 3.1 billion he's made in the last several years. They want their % of all the income to double to about 35%. It's a stab at the whole deal. I bet the teams don't show up for the meeting.

 

First, I think Ferrari are completely blameless in this whole thing. I think the FIA, for all the moronic things they do from time to time, are also blameless in this matter. Second, I think the teams that withdrew WERE PUT IN THAT POSITION BY MICHELIN in the first place. A race in which all the Michelin runners would have gone substantially slower because of tire issues would have been almost as bad as what happened. WTF were they supposed to run on, wagon wheels? This is purely the fault of Michelin and the teams were forced into trying to negotiate an agreement that would have clearly violated FIA rules and the FIA rightly said no.

 

OK, so we've all said its michelin's fault, except....

what about the rule changes and adequate testing opportunities.... with the tires needing to last the whole race, they really change the whole dynamic IMO. does that fact alone change things?

I don't know enough about tires to say one way or the other, but the tire that worked last year SHOULD work again this year... except now it has to last for 200 miles (ish).

does that fact alone adequately change the physics involved to create this situation? OR...

are the toyota cars just brutal on tires?

 

Good point, but if they were using last years tires then they should be able to last longer than the projected 10 laps. From what I have read Michelin was offered highspeed testing and opted out, I don't know how much truth there is to that, but if any it seems again Michelins fault alone.

 

The tires did last more than 10 laps. just take a look at the charts only the Toyotas and DC did not complete more than 20 laps in practice #2 on Friday.

With only 2 sets of tires to use on Friday they had the chance to put on more than 10 laps on the tires.

Michelin IMHO were making some sort of political statement to the FIA more than likely about the letter sent to them after the Kimi's crash at the European GP By staging this protest in the US were the F1 fan base is perhaps the smallest of any country hosting a GP the damage would be minimal. If they did the same thing in Canada where half of the fans were there to see Michelin runner JV there would have been an all out riot.

Michelin was handing the USGP spectators and the FIA a bunch of BS.
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