typical Ferrari - no interest in the wider aspect of the sport. Would have been hilarious if they had taken each other out. Yes Michelin were at fault but they were honest with the problem. FIA and Ferrari were the ones who damaged the sport today. Its a sport. People pay to watch it and be entertained. Ferrari racing nobody and gaining points today sums up their attitude. Even today they told their drivers to stop racing each other with 20 laps to go. As i drove home tonight in my F-car - people outside a pub shouted "Cheat!" - and i quite agree... As far as im concerned Ferrari Formula one is going to damage the reputation of Ferrari road cars if it carries on solely puttting its commercial interests at heart and coming across as so blatantly unsporting. They dont let their drivers race each other, they avoid overtaking on the race track, the farce with Rubens giving way to Michael a couple of years ago, their unwillingness to agree to testing limitations etc. ferrari are the best name in the motor sports world - to me they should be acting more honourably and setting a good example...this kind of behaviour has steadily put me off them over the last few years
What a load of B*ll*x Ferrari,like all the other teams enter F1 to win. A tyre is another component on a car just like an engine or a brake pad. It is not Ferrari's or the FIA's fault that Michelin couldn't supply a tyre to their teams that could finish the race safely. Why should they race each other the idea is for Ferrari to win the constructors championship by accumulating more points than the other team,it's called tactics,something all sports have. Do you think the Michelin runners would have pulled out if it was the Bridgestones that had the problem. And why should the track have been changed to accomodate the teams that had this technical problem. Yes I agree that F1 has not come out of today's events well,but you cannot blame Ferrari or the FIA,the blame lies firmly with Michelin. One good thing,at least it happened in the US and not over here.
And also, even though Ferrari had all to gain by keeping the track as it was, they were quite happy to let them put a chicane in so everyone could race... all they said, quite reasonably is that they would not abandon the whole race. They had ample time, they should have just put the damn chicane in. An expensive Michelin mistake, but the lack of race I believe is firmly in the hands of the FIA.
errr no, Ferrari objected to the change. They admitted this fact. The blame is Michelin's. They are now saying that the tyre was defective due to a manufacturing fault and furthermore they would not warrant that the replacement tyres were safe either. I am sure that the Bridgestone runners would not have objected to the use of the replacement tyres provided that the Michelin runners pted not to score points. Once Michelin issued the unsafe statements, there was no chance of anything happening. The FIA were totally within their rights to object to the chicane. How can anyone blame Ferrari for taking to the grid? They did nothing wrong. If Tony George was looking for an excuse to dump F1, this was it.
Sorry, I heard that they were not bothered either way as long as the race went ahead... mind you, there were so many stories flying around.
They were clever - I don't think that they actually attended any of the meetings and thus avoided having to go on the record in supporting or not supporting the chicane issue. They then deflected the questions onto the FIA.
I think this is the key point. People moaned because only 6 cars started the 'race'. Had it been 14 Michelin runners instead, would there have been as much uproar? In my view, there are a lot of p1ssed people because they were denied the spectacle of a reasonable amount of cars going round the track, maybe even racing. I understand that it's a lot of time / effort / expense to attend an F1 race. What if there's been a 14 car shunt at the first corner, which was easily cleared up, but left 6 cars running? Answer:- no difference to what we witnessed in terms of a 'race' yesterday. Of course, the circumstances could be deemed different, as it would have been the result of 'racing', but then F1 is a man / machine sport. If the tyres are dangerous (part of the machine), then you can't race. Simple as that. So, this is all about finding a convenient scapegoat (seems to be Ferrari at the moment). My opinion is that the FIA had to abide by the rules. If Michelin's tyres can't be used because of a technical problem with them, then that's fine. Don't penalise Bridgestone for working within the rules. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have been too chuffed if I'd been there, but I don't see how the FIA can bend the rules for Michelin. It's a no win situation for them.
14 crashing at the first corner would have been great. Lets face it we all want to see a little crash action at the first corner now dont we......er, well i do.... Apart of the appeal is seeing what goes wrong.
Almost as much fun as 14 Michelin runners popping a tyre at the last turn in quick succession (as long as nobody gets injured, of course!)
Just once before i pop me clogs, i would love to see a F1 race at the full 14 mile Nurburgring, with no engine restrictions in a balls out fight like in the old days when i was a lad. On another fantasy note would also be great to get Senna back to while we are at it, to race against Shuey. There, i have said it........deal with it.....
I'd definitely pay to see both. I can't see the 'Ring happening because there's so much fear about safety these days that it'd be unworkable. Which is a real pity. As for Senna, if only it could happen.
