What would YOU do as the FIA?

I believe they said, "If the chicane is not constructed we will not race." Hell, this was released to the public 5 hours before the race.

Source in the regulations?

Race, therefore creating a more dangerous situation because of the massive speed differentials in the cars?

 

They asked to have a chicane added to the approved course, not because the course was dangerous, but because they made an error and that left them uncompetetive on the approved course. FIA refuse the request, as they should have. At that point, if the teams were not going to race, they are require to give formal notice. They did not. Instead they chose to remain silent and sent their cars to the grid to give the appearance that they intended to race until the last possible moment. That is not notice in my book

article 151c of the FIA sporting code "...any act prejudicial..."

The corner is VERY wide, and it is for reasons like this god gave us white painted lines...., except michelin teams to the right everyone else to the left and never the paths shall cross or a stop and go will be handed out, they understand rules like that, it's how like at pit in/out works.

 

What is formal notice? How do you know they did not give it?

And stopping every 10 laps for new tires *wouldn't* be prejudicial against 'any' competition or motorsport in general?

Don't tell this to me. The team principles were the ones that decided this...to be honest I haven't heard any authoritative motorsport figure other than Max Mosley (and possibly Charlie Whiting) endorse this idea. Those two, of course, have no vested interest in this court case at all...

 

Michelin screwed up and did not produce a tire that was safe for their teams to use. In turn, the teams did not race so that their drivers would not crash and face the possibility of death. So for safety reasons all of the Michelin teams retired.

With this in mind, how do you justify any fines? What is your argument - the teams should have risked their driver's lives on tires that they knew were not safe? The FIA and the teams could not come to an agreement in order to make their be a "show", which is unfortunate for the fans, but is it really breaking any rule to not participate in a grand prix for safety reasons?

 

I don't...but it makes no sense to charge the teams with specifically with violating article 131c if they had recieved notice....that wouldn't make any sense.

No, it is to the letter of the rules. Clearly the michelin teams couldn't beat ferrari, but the back markers were 2 laps down, they could have beaten them (figuring 20 seconds per stop) and they could race each other and at leat 2, maybe 4 of them would finish in points.

Michelin said they need to slow down turn 13. That is the only way to do it and leave the course unchanged. I would rather have seen the teams changing tires every 10 laps, but this is an option.

I think it would have been a great race if the teams had a choice.
Some taking the slow lane, the other the fast lane and change tires....or maybe they get 10 hot laps, so the slow lane guys could run the last 10 flat out. It could have been a good race, odd, but good.

 

We are talking about Mad Max.

No action they could have done wouldn't have been prejudicial. Furthermore, it's a completely subjective requirement. The Ferrari domination of 2002 & 2004 for prejudicial to the sport in my mind. Big deal.

Or the teams could not race. If it was one team no one would have given a crap about it. Hell, 3-4 teams could have not raced and it still would have been watchable. The problem with the FIA is that is not consistent at all. Post pone the race for safety in Brazil 2003. Don't fine Sauber in 2000 or Minardi in 2002. And lets not forget the 1994 season...

Safety has had precedence for rules in many situations in order to keep the race going...

Maybe. I still think the teams should have a choice to not race.

 

I don't know if anyone else brought this up yet, but it seems to me that if Bernie hadn't decided to effectively penalize Ferrari's success by changing the tire rule this year, none of this would have transpired. The older tire compounds would be in use and this disaster wouldn't have occurred.

As far as what to realistically do at this point... the sport has suffered enough, and no one (Michelin, race teams) needs to be punished at this point.