FIA Announce New Scrutineering Standards

[gcdugas]

In accord with the precedent set in Australia this year, the FIA stewards announce a new method of scrutineering the cars for the grid.

It consists only of asking the teams if their cars conform to the rules. No more templates, no more flex tests, no more weighing, no more measuring. No, they will simply ask the teams and that will be considered due diligence and the faithful exercise of their duties. If a team says its cars meet the requirements, then the FIA will believe them without verification. It doesn't matter if a car sprouts all kinds of new wings and aero bits. No, the stewards will ignore available visual evidence in accord with the precedent set by the Aussie 2009 stewards. Think of all the expense saved. Think of the stewards being able to get back to their important parties and social functions.

In an interview Max Mosley was unusually candid saying: "Verification, we don't need no steenkin' verification. If there is any trouble, we can fix it later and blame others. We can even rule retroactively like we did with the Michelin tires in 2003. In addition to saving money and bother, this new system has been tested and works remarkably well."

[lkocev]

hahaha you have a very good sence of humor. With the way these guys make a complete curry of everything they do, this is the only option that makes sence. haha

[pete555]

There will be no technical or sporting rules for 2010.
The teams will be asked to post race results to the FIA alongside the truth statement.
The FIA will then decide who actually won the championship and everyone else will get their prize money withheld

[nae]

as i said in a earlier post which i cant find now

from 2010 onwards the champions will be drawn from a hat
and in the interest of fairness the teams will each be
able to submit a hat design from which the draw will be made

[WhiteBlue]

Its a bit late for April fools, isn't it? Beside, 2003 no rule was changed about tyres. Some creative loop hole exploitation was simply stopped by a more effective scrutineering method (after the race). The Michelin tyres violated the regulations, only the previous scrutineering (before race) did not reveal the rule violation. They were lucky that they were not slapped over the hands for that.

[gcdugas]

Its a bit late for April fools, isn't it? Beside, 2003 no rule was changed about tyres. Some creative loop hole exploitation was simply stopped by a more effective scrutineering method (after the race). The Michelin tyres violated the regulations, only the previous scrutineering (before race) did not reveal the rule violation. They were lucky that they were not slapped over the hands for that.

??? Are you sure you are talking about the same 2003 thing? The Michelin tires passed scrutineering for 3 years before FIARRARI got the measuring method changed. Even the measuring method was spec'd. Just like the FIA specs how a weight of a certain mass applied to a certain section of a wing must deflect no more than Xmm etc. So too the 2001-2003 Michelin tires passed the prescribed measuring method. Now if you deflate the tires to 0.001 psi and put a 10,000 Kg weight on the axle, yes there will be more area in the contact patch. And it was this tire of mid-season revision that stole the 2003 WDC title from Kimi or JPM (along with the very questionable Indy black flag that JPM got over a nothing incident with Rubens).

WhiteBlue, I must say that I had a bit of respect for your posts but this has seriously worried me about your judgment. Or did I not catch your sarcasm?

[WhiteBlue]

You do not seem to understand written English.

2003 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - TYRES
09.09.2003
During a meeting on Monday with representatives of Michelin and the McLaren and Williams Formula One teams, the FIA were shown examples of a new Michelin tyre before and after use. The FIA technical department has confirmed that it believes these tyres will comply with the Formula One regulations if used in the same way at Monza.
A number of press reports have suggested that the FIA has changed or re-interpreted the tyre regulations. This is not correct. The maximum tread width has been 270mm since 1999. The FIA has never suggested that tread width was unlimited once the tyre was in use.

With hindsight, it is regrettable that those using the earlier Michelin front tyres did not consult the FIA about possible excess tread width as soon as they became aware of it. However, as far as the FIA technical department is concerned, the matter is now closed and the Championship can continue with all teams on an equal footing.

Furthermore, the tread width of the front tyres must not exceed 270mm.

This has been the same sentence in the sporting regulations from 1999-2008.

Regulations have to be complied with at all times and not only when scrutineering tests are carried out.
It is entirely normal that the FIA changed the scrutineering once they were made aware that Michelin tyres were changing the tread width during the race.

[Giblet]

That doesn't sound open to interpretation to me.

It's just like a flexi wing, but its a flexi tread.

[Scotracer]

Ferrari argued that under extreme circumstances the Michelin tyres were illegal. It was a VERY questionable judgement.

[gcdugas]

This has been the same sentence in the sporting regulations from 1999-2008.

Regulations have to be complied with at all times and not only when scrutineering tests are carried out.
It is entirely normal that the FIA changed the scrutineering once they were made aware that Michelin tyres were changing the tread width during the race.

This issue has been well blogged. The tires only exceeded 270 mm when bashing kerbs with the side of the shoulder (they would exceed 600mm if they hit a wall at Monaco or Canada!). They never exceeded 270 mm when measured in the manner the FIA prescribed when they initially put forth the spec in 1999 when the additional grove was added from 1998.

Tell me this, if the FIA says a wing can only flex Xmm under a static load when a weight of X mass is hung from the center of the wing and then a team complains after several years of accepting this standard so that the FIA now hangs a weight of 2X mass and, surprise, the wing now flexes more than Xmm... Is that what you call fair? When Mich returned to F1 in 2001, the tire made spec in the prescribed manner .... until they changed the prescribed manner mid-season years later. In a few years time Ross Brawn will give the full inside scoop on this whole sordid affair and, if we must wait until then, I will tell you: "I told you so". The FIA went from a static measurement to a dynamic one under the ruse of "at all times". However it was very sneaky. They added a load and simulated bumps and the Michelin tire was more than 270mm and the B'Stone wasn't. However if they changed the load or the bumps, the B'Stone was also over 270mm. The FIARRARI carefully selected a set of criteria that the Michelin failed but that the B'Stone passed. It was designed with one purpose in mind... to derail the Michelin shod teams... just like returning to more than one tire per race in 2006 after Michelin wiped Bridgestone's nose in 2005 with the race-distance tire rule.

Like I said, if they measure the tires with 0.001 psi and a 10,000 Kg load, even the B'Stones would be more than 270mm. It was all very retroactive and arbitrary. If you disagree, I guess we will have to wait until a "tell all" book comes out by Brawn, Todt, an Italian FIA official, Montezemolo, a B'Stone engineer, Rubens, or whomever. It is just like all those tales from the days of yore about Tyrrell and lead shot in the water during scrutineering, water cooled brakes, secret oil tanks, waste gate tampering, and other "cheating" etc.

[WhiteBlue]

You better don't argue with me about rubber, because I understand a little bit about it. A racing tyre like other tyres is supposed to provide very high safety due to the nature of the crosslinking process the rubber undergoes in vulcanazation. This is what Michelin was playing with.

They tricked the chemistry in such a way that the tyres were not cured 100% before the race. So when the tyres heated up in use they had some plastic deformation which gave them an excessive thread width. A nice little trick but it also affects the safety because the whole structural integrity is changing when the crosslinking isn't finished. So this little trick can be dangerous particularly when severe or extreme loads occur in early stages of tyre use, say lap one or two. So it made sense to stop this and duely they did.

You should not always try to avoid the issue. This conspiracy story about elaborate testing methods sounds very much like another myth invented to cover the inconvenient truth. If it had any credibility at all Michelin had provided documentation that you can quote instead of dark rumors about the ruthless Scuderia. The tyres were out of spec after the race. That was the issue. The loop hole got closed and thats it.

[gcdugas]

You better don't argue with me about rubber, because I understand a little bit about it. A racing tyre like other tyres is supposed to provide very high safety due to the nature of the crosslinking process the rubber undergoes in vulcanazation. This is what Michelin was playing with.

They tricked the chemistry in such a way that the tyres were not cured 100% before the race. So when the tyres heated up in use they had some plastic deformation which gave them an excessive thread width. A nice little trick but it also affects the safety because the whole structural integrity is changing when the crosslinking isn't finished. So this little trick can be dangerous particularly when severe or extreme loads occur in early stages of tyre use, say lap one or two. So it made sense to stop this and duely they did.

You should not always try to avoid the issue. This conspiracy story about elaborate testing methods sounds very much like another myth invented to cover the inconvenient truth. If it had any credibility at all Michelin had provided documentation that you can quote instead of dark rumors about the ruthless Scuderia. The tyres were out of spec after the race. That was the issue. The loop hole got closed and thats it.

Did the tires meet the prescribed spec? Did the FIA describe a specific measurement method employed for years? Did the FIA change their prescribed measuring method mid-season at the behest of one team that got lapped the race before? Did the FIA change the race-distance tire rule after only one season? Did the FIA rule that tire ovens were "blankets"? Did all these specious tire rulings benefit a certain Red team?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Does a reasonable person need to hear any more to see bias and corruption?

No.