Interesting thought but, yeah, they have to race on the tires they used for qualifying. Each tire is barcoded and they can't even use a different tire from the same manufacturer. Beyond that, the tires are designed very specifically for the cars on which they're normally used and to go out and race on tires that people had never tested with before would have been pretty dangerous. I'm sure there would be all sorts of contractual implications, too. Lastly, I doubt if Bridgestone is in a position to supply an additional seven teams on hours notice.

Mark

 

Check out this interview with Paul Stoddard...

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~marjliik/e..._Interview.mp3

 

I see Champ Car has announced that they'll honor USGP tickets at next weekend's Champ Car race in Cleveland. Pretty smart!

Mark

 

Typical Aussie, that was a great interview!!!

 

I was there and can confirm that more than 100,000 of us echoed Paul Stoddard's opinion.

Until you try to explain to a third grader why his favorite driver isn't competing in the race, after he just watched him drive by on the parade lap, you haven't lived. Thank you Mr. Mosley for making my life complete.

 

Paul Stoddard is exactly right!

 

I'm sure if I was there I would be shouting and ranting what Stoddard said.... but I didnt spend 1000USD+ on airfares and accomodation and tickets, so I can sit here unbiased and truthfully tell you that:

1. Michelin and therefore the Michelin equipped teams effed up.
2. FIA did the right thing by not bending rules one bit. They are technically correct 100%. Whether they are ethically correct is another story.
3. I'm glad that there were at least 6 cars out there. Would you guys have preferred 0 cars??

I am NOT a Ferrari fan, nor a FIA fan, nor a Michelin fan, nor am I a person of principal, but I know fairness when I see it, and what FIA did was fair.

If the fans want entertainment then the French have a really good thing going in Vegas called the Cirque De Soleil which I can highly reccommend.

For those that choose to run and sulk in the same corner as the Michelin froggies, then I can only offer a used kleanex tissue.

 

Too many whining fans, imo. The 2005 USGP was unique, weird, surreal, controversial, true.....but it was still a real race. If Michelin wimped out (running at reduced speeds was a real option) it's their bad and their decision. I think they'll be the one's to take the hit.

So what if only 6 cars participated...they were the only one's up to snuff! They raced. What if there had been a big pile up on the start (think Spa a few years back)...there may be fewer cars, but so what....a race is a race. If only two cars were competition-ready, fine...go at it!!! F1 can't be ALL about the fan entertainment all the time. There WAS a race. It did not meet w/ fan expectations, but fans should get over it....that's just F1!!

I truly respect Michelin's concern for safety...good job! But I believe there were options on the table for them and they simply walked. Boo! Shorting the Bridgestone teams would have been wrong. Michelin should have sucked it up and made the performance compromises (not safety) necessary.

Mega kudos to the six teams/drivers who ran...too bad they had to absorb the shame of someone else's ****-up.

 

...

 

BRILLIANT!! As many times as Champ Car has attempted suicide, perhaps F1's stumble could give them a boost. Whatever works!

 

1. Michelin and therefore the Michelin equipped teams effed up.

Correct, Michelin screwed the pooch. By Friday afternoon they had admitted to all that yes the tires were unsafe. They then went into high gear to RESOLVE the problem, and it was here that their practical and feasible efforts were rebuffed by an authoritarian FIA, which basically gor into a pissing match rather than a good faith effort to provide a race / spectacle / entertainment / whatever.
2. FIA did the right thing by not bending rules one bit. They are technically correct 100%. Whether they are ethically correct is another story.
Here I disagree, as it was a driver and fan safety issue. The speeds reached at the banking around turn 13 approach 200 mph. I for one would not want any type of projectile coming off the track and into the crowd at those speeds, be it carbon fibre, a wheel, or worse. I was at Spa in 1998, when there was an eleven car crash at the start, and seeing wheels and other debris pass by me at 100+ mph was enough for me never to want to see that kind of stuff again.
3. I'm glad that there were at least 6 cars out there. Would you guys have preferred 0 cars??
Zero. (But there would have been two, and I am a Ferrari fan.) Rather I think that it would have been better for there to have been an 18 car field and a chicane, assuming that Ferrari would have sat the event out.

 

so if you would have driven all the way from texas, spent hundreds on tickets, hotels, food, taken time off of work, etc and this would have happened, you would have said, 'oh well.' i don't think so.

it's true, it was officially a race but that doesn't mean we went can't be disappointed. i only traveled from st. louis but there were many that traveled from the other side of the world and spent a lot more money and time than i did.

cars piling up at the start of the race in spa is a completely different story. that was part of the race. this political BS is not sport.

 

That is one of the best interviews I've ever heard, and I own "Celebrities At Their Worst."

A+ use of the F-bomb.

Oh, and count me in on the Michelin boycott. They're douchebags.

 

Amen to you contrym.

BTW, I wonder if Alex from Tirerack can provide us some insight on how sales of Michelins are doing after the USGP fiasco.
Afterall, my guess is that fans of F1 are like us Mini owners, educated/informed/enthusiasts w/ attractive disposable income, exactly the kind of customers Michelin can't afford to p--s off with a bad PR stunt.

 

Has anyone else heard that the tire wouldn't have been unsafe if the teams had been running them using the recommended air pressure and wheel camber? I heard it said on a couple radio accounts, but haven't found it anywhere.

 

I read something like that on either Autoweek or FSN. It basically pointed the finger at Toyota for trying to increase grip in the infield by lowering the tire pressure. But Toyota denied that accusation.

 

I agree with camelpilot except Cirque is Canadian- French Canadian - but Canadian nevertheless.

The Aussie inteview was pretty funny; typical of the emotion and frenzy that surrounds a situation like this. I’ll give Stoddart credit though, he showed his bias. That’s why we have sport bodies to try to maintain some level of objectivity. If you are interested in the facts on this, go to www.fia.com and read the letters between Michelin and FIA.

It is amazing how, when people make mistakes they want to complain about the rules. This is a classic case where someone screwed up and is looking to confuse the issue and coverup their mistake. Michelin tried to CYA and it backfired when it put thier teams in a catch 22 position. Their proposed solution was basically, penallize the guys that got it riight. FIA was correct in not giving in on this situation.

The tragedy of the event was that is became a shoving match, and a game of bluff. The teams that didn't race are the same teams that were trying to organize a breakaway manufacturer controlled series. I am not an apologist for FIA, but in this case they were correct in enforcing the rules, especially when you consider their tire warnng in early June.


The way I see it Michelein screwed up. The Michelin teams made it worse by choosing not to race. They chose not to race not becuase of safety issues but the legal limbo Michelein put them in, and because of their antipathy for FIA and FOM. If it was truly a safety concern why were they running in qualifying on Saturday?


Ultimately though FIA is resposible for not finding a compromise. Their letters display their attitude pretty clearly. Because of the inability to find compromise we all suffered. On June 29th they will punish the 7 Michelin teams, and when they choose their sole tire supplier for future years they will likely punish Michelin. Having signed up Ferrari for several years I think they feel pretty powerful indeed.

 

What about Detroit? Here then gone---I don't remember the reasons for its demise, but enjoyed going there....

 

Having just paid many $$$ fror tickets etc. in Montreal I feel for the Indy fans. Where can I get one of those shirts? Some kind of solution should have been worked out to provide the fans with the show they paid for. If the film breaks at the movies you get a refund....

 

Here's the site:

http://www.tshirts365.com/store/come...iate=wfs423606

 

Had the teams not lined up for the formation lap, it would not be considered a race because the rules say there must be at least 10 (or is it 12) cars at the start for it to be a gp...so michelin teams did the right thing by not letting their drivers race on unsafe tires, but did the wrong thing by letting them go out and parade, thus making it a race, thus not allowing fans to recoup their money.

OTHER THING

Mild Seven and West are Cigarette brands, how come they were advertised on the cars? Is the rule that only cigs sold in the us cannot be advertised?

L

 

Here's a discussion on tobacco advertising at Indy from last Friday...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=45334

...post #5 and #8. :smile:

 

Unless of course, the teams were deceitful in their lineup and had intended all along to defraud the USGP of its status as a true "race".

My feeling is that the Michelin teams were hoping for a last minute agreement with FIA, with a resultant delay to hastily place a temporary chicane along the track prior to turn 13. Remember all those temporary chicanes, post-Imola 1994? If I recall correctly some of those were placed just prior to the race, maybe at Monza and Hockenheim.

 

Derek Daly was on a local Indy sports radio show yesterday. He made a good point about the Michelin teams taking the grid. There is a rule in F1 this year where the teams must use the same engines for 2 races. By taking the grid at Indy, they can count the USGP as one race, and therefore change to a fresh engine sooner. If at Indy they were running the same engine they ran in Canada, then now they can switch to a fresh engine for the next race.


So not only did they totally screw the fans, they took full advantage of the situation to help them selves.

 

or was it the rules/fia that screwed the fans and the teams are just doing what they can to get the best advantage? they are in this to win races afterall.