FIA Is The Only Blame

How is crashing because of tires blowing up any less unsafe than a driver of a non competitive team blowing up an engine or crashing into a wall trying to take more risks in order to win points??

It's not the rules fault... It's Michelin and the teams playing chicken with the FIA thinking if they can get 10 teams banned together to pressure the FIA to change the track set up, the FIA will bend over and take it in the ass, for the sake of having a race... What the jokers at michelin and the team managers running their tires should have done is voluntarily suck it up and set up the cars more conservatively (ie. less downforce, less aggressive wing set up etc.) to preserve the tires sacrificing performance, and let Bridgestone have their day fair and square...

 

It's the Team's fault! They should have raced & slowed down going into turn 13. The fans were down right sad! Not angry. Just straight up heartbroken. You should have seen their faces. I did, I was there. If all the Michellin teams would have raced the fans would have supported their cause & protested along side their teams, after the race. Instead they were completely let down by the teams they love. People came from all around the world to watch this event. Shame on the Michellin Teams. Shame!

 

Did anyone catch Peter Windsor on "Wind Tunnel"?

Among the NASCAR crowd, he came across as the voice of reason.

But he pointed out that, in all those interviews of the non-starters, not one team stood up to say, "we messed up".

Michelin floated a lot of proposals that they knew FIA wouldn't accept, so that they could blame FIA, blame Ferrari, blame Bridgestone, instead of saying "Maybe we should have tested".

According to PW, in earlier testing, only Massa and Davidson tested for Michelin, while Bridgestone sent full representation.

As far as I can tell, FIA's biggest failure -- and this may be more the press' failure -- is that nobody seems to know exactly what the penalties would have been if Michelin had simply mounted a newly delivered set of tires and accepted the penalty.

While I don't support the FIA's tire rules, they apply to everyone. Michelin didn't complain when it was in their favor.

 

Then they don't belong driving a racecar!

Drivers have to slow down all the time to preserve the equipment!
Drivers have to make adjustments all the time due to the limitations of their cars and tires!

I'm sure there are plenty of corners at plenty of the tracks this year that the drivers had to roll on the gas a bit more slowly than ideal to minimize wheelspin and preserve tire life... that so they can run the softer compound that lets them run faster through the rest of the track.

Hell, Ferrari has had to put up with running slower earlier in the race all year so that their tires would be able to last to the end of the race.

Without ABS, all the drivers compromise their braking aggressiveness more earlier in the race than later because they really don't want to flat spot a tire early in the race.

The teams could have and SHOULD have run knowing their disadvantage in turn 13. If they could run qualifying... they could run the race.

 

It's the old "to finish first, you must first finish" line.

FIA held their ground on not changing the rules. Can't blame them for that otherwise we'd never hear the end of Paul Stoddard.

Blame goes to Michelin for not having the right tire for the weekend. End of story.

 

Fully agree. i recall someone team saying they could not control their driver...

WTF??? If you can not control your driver then perhaps you need to hire a new one.

 

And also to the 14 teams who CHOSE not to race. They could have raced and pitted for a new tire every 10 or 12 laps as thier 'equipment' allowed but chose not to. They didn't want to race with giving up that competitiveness. So they chose not to race at all.

The FIA only followed their own rules. This debacle is squarely on Michelin's shoulders and the teams that chose not to race.

Ferrari and Bridgestone would have been laughed back to Italy if Bridgestone were the ones with failing tires and wanted new tires or the course altered for them.

 

Michelin's Dupasquier admitted today that they "screwed up".

I would say they did more than that. They damaged F-1, they damaged their own nationality. Permanently.

Dupasquier shold be fired, Michelin should be heavily fined for not properly testing, all 14 drivers and the 7 teams should lose evey point they have so far earned for the season. Michelin, along with the team owners share of the USGP revenue should go towards reimburing every fan that bought tickets to see such a disgrace to motorsports.

 

Amazing how Michelin can produce a tire which does triple and quaddruple stints at Le Mans in 95F heat but cant produce a tire for Indianapolis which
dosent delaminate within 5 laps.

Amazing how Michelin flys in special tires to replace the ill-fated ones in time for the Grand Prix and the FIA tells them they cannot be used.

Amazing how many reprocussions there will be as a result of this debacle.

BHW

 

The bottom line for me is even though Michelin screwed up monumentally, Ferrari could have demanded a chicane or allowed a change of tires with no penalty. The FIA was simply acting as an agent for their benifit. Ferrari has a petulant little child attitude; we get what we want, or we will walk away from f1...and the FIA goes along. If Ferrari walks away, it's the end of F1 and of Max and Bernie's sources of income.... Kind of a big circle jerk, for the mutual benifit of Ferrari, Bernie, and Max

 

Or, win at the slowest speed possible.

 

We'll have to wait until next week to see how this plays out, but I'm guessing that Michelin has to be very careful with what it says over the next few days...





Michelin teams summoned by FIA




The FIA has ordered the seven Michelin teams to appear at a hearing of its World Motor Sport Council on Wednesday June 29 following their controversial withdrawal from the US Grand Prix.

The summons follows a statement issued by Formula One racing’s governing body earlier on Monday, in which it outlines its position on Michelin's decision to pull out of the race. The statement reads:

"Formula One is a sporting contest. It must operate to clear rules. These cannot be negotiated each time a competitor brings the wrong equipment to a race.

"At Indianapolis we were told by Michelin that their tyres would be unsafe unless their cars were slowed in the main corner. We understood and among other suggestions offered to help them by monitoring speeds and penalising any excess. However, the Michelin teams refused to agree unless the Bridgestone runners were slowed by the same amount. They suggested a chicane.

"The Michelin teams seemed unable to understand that this would have been grossly unfair as well as contrary to the rules. The Bridgestone teams had suitable tyres. They did not need to slow down. The Michelin teams’ lack of speed through turn 13 would have been a direct result of inferior equipment, as often happens in Formula One. It must also be remembered that the FIA wrote to all of the teams and both tyre manufacturers on June 1, 2005, to emphasise that "tyres should be built to be reliable under all circumstances".

"A chicane would have forced all cars, including those with tyres optimised for high-speed, to run on a circuit whose characteristics had changed fundamentally – from ultra-high speed (because of turn 13) to very slow and twisting. It would also have involved changing the circuit without following any of the modern safety procedures, possibly with implications for the cars and their brakes. It is not difficult to imagine the reaction of an American court had there been an accident (whatever its cause) with the FIA having to admit it had failed to follow its own rules and safety procedures.

"The reason for this debacle is clear. Each team is allowed to bring two types of tyre: one an on-the-limit potential race winner, the other a back-up which, although slower, is absolutely reliable. Apparently, none of the Michelin teams brought a back-up to Indianapolis. They subsequently announced they were flying in new tyres from France but then claimed that these too were unsafe.

"What about the American fans? What about Formula One fans world-wide? Rather than boycott the race the Michelin teams should have agreed to run at reduced speed in turn 13. The rules would have been kept, they would have earned Championship points and the fans would have had a race. As it is, by refusing to run unless the FIA broke the rules and handicapped the Bridgestone runners, they have damaged themselves and the sport.

"It should also be made clear that Formula One Management and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as commercial entities, can have no role in the enforcement of the rules."

 

Give 'em back the money for the tickets. I'm pissed and I wasn't there.

 

Michael said it correctly. "It is not our problem". It was Michelins problem, they had delivered a tire that was not competitive and arguably unsafe. I agree that if Ferrari had had problems with the Bridgestones and asked for revisions, they would have been laughed at if the Michelins could hold together. The Michelin shod guys would not have relented on Ferraris behalf if the shoe were on the other foot.

Ferraris is not the "petulant little child" attitude that you describe but instead is that of a competitor. It was not their problem that someone elses equipment was not up for Indy. They have battled tires all year and have lived up to their obligations and taken their hits. A "petulant little child" would not do that. I respect Ferrari for coming to race and doing so. I only wish the rest of the teams had been of the same mindset.

Oh, and yes, I have raced and raced motorcycles professionally for Kawasaki years ago so I know about tires and speed. You make adjustments for the equipment you have that day and race on. You may not shine that day but another day will come when the equipment is back up to quality. That is what the Michelin teams should have done. But, this is just my opinion.......

 

the fia was following the rules to the letter...rules are rules...the chicane would have been dangerous according to several of the drivers....using different tires than the ones you qualified with is also against the rules...what does this have to do with ferrari????

 

A good business man follows the rules to the letter.

Great business men.... find that they are greater than the rules, and solve things in a manner that doesn't leave 100,000's of loyal fans to suffer.


Ferrari and FIA showed this weekend how they are Good, at the expense of being Great.

 

We all have been aware of the Ferrari qualifying problems in most of the 2005 races. The problem is that the Bridgestones can not heat up sufficiently in one lap to perform optimally for qualifying. Based on your comments, my question to you is: Did you ever hear Ferrari asking the Michelin teams to slow down for a few tenths of a second during qualifying so that they would have a better chance to compete in qualifying??? Why should Ferrari agree to an Indy chicane on turn 13 to slow themselves down for Michelin teams' own inadequacy???

 

I have not heard any evidence whatsoever that if Ferrari had pushed/agreed to a chicane that the FIA would have ordered it. Based upon their published response it would have made no difference. The FIA called the bluff of 7 teams - why would they not have done the same with 10? A debacle just the same. I think this is a thinly veiled attempt for Michelin and their teams to shift blame away from themselves - and too many people are buying it!

 

COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER.

 

Good Call.

 

This is all Michlins fault in its purest and simpliest form. They should be penlized, pay the tickets back to all the fans.

its the typical french attitude, they dont get their way they cry back home and surrender and expect the entire world to support them.

The shoudl be fined Millions, and if 1 tire team is required for all teams, hope they are sent back home packing in F1.

Good call for the FIA not being held hostage to change the rules...feel bad for the fans, but Michlin needs to foot the bill on this one...period !

 

I've got to say, I hate the new tire rule. That said, it wasn't FIA's fault for what happend Sunday. The blame goes to the teams that pulled out. They can take up their issues with Michelin.