I enjoyed it I went to see ferrari win and they did I told a friend's son he was witnessing history I've got no problem with michelin I got my money back and free ticket for next years race and a t shirt that I still wear
Not true - there was and are plenty of precedents for modifying the track for a safety concern. They could easily have had a chicane in place for a special morning of race day practice, perhaps even for P3 and qualifying. Agreed with Bas - the FIA and the teams had, have, an obligation to put on a race for the spectators who paid to watch the event. The FIA has the authority to revise the track for a safety concern. Since the cause of the concern was Michelin, they could have easily fined Michelin and applied penalties to Michelin runners, or imposed an extra mandatory pit stop or two for tire changes, to keep them out of the points. Pig-headed dictator Mosley was wanting to make a point to Michelin and simply did not care about the impact to the spectators, just like his illegal re-writing of the technical tire rules in the middle of the 2004 season specifically to disadvantage Michelin and to help Ferrari. In fact, he was probably grateful for the uproar and controversy to emphasize his point. I agree Michelin screwed up big time on their Indy tire spec - they can get blamed for incompetence. However, the FIA could still have made a safe race happen, and deliberately chose not to, screwing over all the spectators as a result. Blame Mad Porno Max first.
100% concur. I recall onboard video from, IIRC correctly, Ayrton at Imola (?) years back. I think the drivers complained about something, & the FIA installed a makeshift chicane overnight - It looked pretty makeshift too - Those water filled plastic barriers. But they got the job done, & everyone seemed happy. The alternative argument, which not being there I may have even supported at the time (!), was that why should the Michelin runners be given an advantage as a result of their own screw up.... As you say, blame Mad Max for that day of F1 infamy. (& young Tulip was barely born. ) Cheers, Ian
I think the US is the only country where races are postoned, or interupted to be completed later on. So the American public is used to this practice which - to my knowledge- doesn't exist in Europe. The US GP could have been postponed until Michelin was able to produce enough suitable tyres; like later in the year? Alternatively, the FIA should have allowed the organisers to install an improvised chicane, and taken the results of the GP out of the championship that year, due to unsual circumstances. To even the chances, maybe 2 or 3 mandatory tyre changes could have been introduced - for alleviate the safety concerns. At least the paying public could have seen a race, (and not 6 cars parading!) but the result wouldn't have unfairly favoured the Bridgestone teams. Watching the fiasco at Indy that year really made me cringe; it was a marketing catastrophe of huge proportion, and televised all over the world!!! As a commercial enterprise, FOM really let its customers down that day. It only survived because of the monopoly it has in F1. But the FIA (Mosley) stuck to its guns and refused to contemplate any solution, as a snub to Michelin, and to make a point about the need for a single tyre supplier in future.
The practice is somewhat normal in USA, but not for the Europeans. F1 teams have their schedule planned out months beforehand, also post season obligations/testing and holidays by team members (the margin for any of the people in F1 to go on holiday is quite small, so a sudden cancellation could mean they and their family have to wait an entire year to retry a holiday!)...not to mention internal politics of when or IF to race the postponed one. Lets say hypothetically renault was 2 points ahead of Mclaren at the end of the season, they'd do anything in their power to NOT run the post poned race as it worked out in their favour, considering the speed of the Mclaren/Kimi that year. You're echoing what I said, should've run the race and discounted Michelin points (or not, as it was largely irrelevant, because the closest Bridgestone team wasn't in the running). 2-3 stops for tires sounds reasonable but the problem was Michelin couldn't guarantee the tire for more than 10 laps, and there was no data for how long the tire would last with chicane installed. Michelin and FIA ****ed up big time that day. Michelin got punished by being out of F1 after their contract (I'm not sure if they got a fine?), and Maxxx was sacked from the FIA, albeit for different reasons (Nazi sex).
The Indy track was something particular on the calendar, and Michelin wasn't able to test enough. That was their excuse. But Michelin repeated something almost similar this year in MotoGP, having obtained the exclusive contract. In testing, rear tyres started to blow out in top speed on the long straights, and it's a miracle nobody was injured or worse. Frenchman Baz was thrown out of his bike at 180mph was is very lucky to have suffered only superficial abrasion on his back.
The FIA is a sporting body. If they were instead an entertainment organization, they would of had more leeway ALA NASCAR suddenly adding a 13th driver to a 12 car cut off, etc. The problem with tires arose from a horror where United States speed ways laser etched a high grip pattern into the asphalt, causing far more mechanical grip than expected from normal asphalt surfaces. I dislike it strongly. The cars were already fast enough with out it. Indy is at fault for pavement choice as IMHO it has ruined the racing there.(And any other oval that has done it, it changes how the engineers setup the cars.) Bridgestone, which provided tires for the Indy series, was aware of the pavement, Michelin, just "assumed" it was business as normal.
I figured I was on a pretty safe bet given that was the only thing available.... At least the two years I went. Although, at least in year one they ran out! Actually, apparently they didn't, it was the lines ahead of the race that 'stopped' the carts getting thru to restock..... I gave up but my now ex was kind enough to stay in line (& missed the start!) only to find they'd sold out! I won't say it was a disaster, but only one level there from! Cheers, Ian
I was there. What really pissed me off was the whole field doing a parade lap and THEN pulling into the pits. Absurd.
I meant the V12 era prior to 2000. Everyone waxes-on about the sound of the V10's but the V12's had a song without peer. Hell I would take a normally aspirated V8 now over these street-sweepers.
