USGP Michelin Tires

[Mclaren11]

All blame and finger pointing aside, it is an aweful reflection on the sport as a whole, Michelin and Bridgestone, that the "powers that be" could not come up with a solution.

Uzael, the michelen teams did run quick laps on saturday, but at that point in time michelen couldn't find the problem with their tires and were reccomending that the tires were run with high pressure and only ten laps. not many, if any cars did more than ten laps.

I still can't belive it...

[RH1300S]

It was a terrible thing to watch.

IF the situation was reversed and, let's say, there was only one team on tyres that would not run the race distance, everyone would have shrugged and said "rules and rules", we'll get on with the race (if that one team was Ferrari, they would have been a goodish amount of smug gloating too!). There would have hardly been a blip in the media.

Well, they did say "rules and rules", we'll get on and race. The problem was that there were only six cars able to run. You can't blame the Michelin teams for any of this.

In this situation; the FIA should have found a way to let the Michelin cars run (probably the chicane on Saturday night, along with extra practice Sunday morning). AND they should have found a way to penalise the Michelin runners. Maybe bump the Bridgstone cars up the grid AND allow them an engine change to make up for the extra practice mileage.

Either way; the FIA had a responsibility to find a way to get the race run for the sake of the fans (especially those poor sods who actually paid to get into the circuit).

A problem caused by Michelin; which the FIA could have solved.

PATHETIC..............

Finally; it seems that once again Ferrari probably held the key to resolve the situation; but as usual chose NOT to put the SPORT first. OK, it is easy to understand why....but surely they should be a able to step back and take a wider view.

I have some sympathy with Michelin; they screwed up and said so straight away. They were not trying to twist anyone's arm or gain advantage. As far as I can tell, they weren't totally sure why the tyres failed, were not sure they had a suitable replacement (even if they were allowed to use it). These things can happen - it's out of their control. The governing bodies needed to come up with a solution - and blaming Michelin was not the solution.

[Hudsonhawk]

And then there was manchild......YEAH

And the hits just keeeeeeep on coming dont they...... ......they just keep pouring petrol on themselves don’t they (F'ed IA and For-us-rarri).

OOOOOHHHH and as if that wasn’t a team order finish ?!?!?!?! Both driver were off the pace......why didn’t barri push shoie early in the race.....and why didn’t he push for an over take after the last pit stop. They nearly collided and then barri caught shoie and then he gave up !!! It was a blatant example of team orders and no one says a word, as they were all still freaking over the non starters.

Finally a public display of how greedy F1 was and is.....but this time it blew up in their face......question is "who will be the scapegoat ?"

Funny thing is that I dont believe the FIA expect this.....did they ?? Oh and shoie showed his true colours and passion for his sport in the post race conference....

Q: Can you describe your emotions as the start approached. You presumably knew what the Michelin drivers were going to do, or suspected what they were going to do. What was going on inside your head?
MS: We didn’t know exactly what they were going to do. We heard certain things, but we were simply concentrating on ourselves, honestly.

First time he has even been HONEST..... ...

Geee, lucky the FIA closed their FIA Survey the other day !!!

Power to the revolution and the GPWC.

[Hudsonhawk]

You know .... I cant stand this attitude from Ferrari where they dribble..."it wasnt our problem".

It just shows how wrong culture in that team is and why they are the stain of F1 society. Its their sport so it is their problem !!! Perhaps they will realise its their problem when in 2008 they are the only team in F1......

Atleast Stoddart has the right idea......

[johny]

Michelin made a very big mistake, we all know that, but what did FIA wanted, to start the race with unsafe tyres and wait till the 1st accident? it's clear they've broken the rules, but you've a crowd who want's some racing, you're moving millions of $ and you just can say "No, rules are rules". If they've build the chicane, there could have been some "racing" and Ferrari'd have won and jordan and minardi scored too, but why refusing all that michelin teams said? Fia and specially bernie have made a great mistake, the consecuences, no more F1 in us, posible punishment for michelin and his temas and don't talk about GPWC.

in conclusion GPWC is the solution.

[Steven]

well yes there were team orders, but only after their last stop. I am sure that if Barrichello would have stayed in front instead of driving through the grass he would have won.
He seemed to be just that little faster than Schumi but having heard Ross Brawn in the radio saying he wanted both cars at the finish it was fixed. However, Barrichello was allowed to win but he should have done it earlier in the race then.

I agree with this GPWC support therefore. However a chicane would not have been a good solution to me. Better would have been just to allow all teams to switch to other tires, so for Michelin the Barcelona spec. Even if that would include a penalty for the Mich teams they would probably have accepted that (well since they suggested it themselves... )

[dumrick]

Power to the revolution and the GPWC.

=D> =D> Agreed!!!!!!

[Monstrobolaxa]

In an interview to a brazilian radio after the race Rubens said: "I'm just a small brazilian against the rest of the world"....he was mentioning indirectly Ferrari team orders.

[RH1300S]

Moving slighty OT. Yes, it was clear than RB asked both Ferrari cars to finish the race - which means, stay in position. I don't see that as team orders (which it would have been had they been asked swapped places).

If I were Rubens, instead of throwing myself off the track to get out of Michael's way I would have stuck my car right where it should have been on the racetrack and hang the consequences.

[Steven]

In an interview to a brazilian radio after the race Rubens said: "I'm just a small brazilian against the rest of the world"....he was mentioning indirectly Ferrari team orders.

I do have the same impression here. He also said "seeing all those cars going into the pits it makes you want to go in yourself". This would mean there's only one driver, a team and the allmighty FIA against the proposals of Michelin... selfish

[sandeep]

to wait till 11.30 midnight for the race only to find that six cars are racing is pretty annoying for sure but its even more annoying for those in the grandstands to pay $100 for this crap .

Frankly i dont think a chicane was an ideal solution to this. they are accousted to racing flat out and dont think would hav naturally adjusted to chicane .someone could forget the chicane and trigger a huge accident .

a penalty for michelin teams could hav been a better sol .FIA should hav agreed to that .

i wonder how many would be keen to be at indianapolis next year . i think the financial loss will be for the indianapolis speedway owners since they hav already paid FIA for the races till 2007 (correct me if i was wrong).

what next in USA .a monacco-like street race. so no tyre confusions.

[manchild]

IMO they'll be able to race with a new engine....they did the practice sessions and qualy....though didn't start....to me it can be considered as a DNF!

I asked this because since those cars didn’t actually start they are off points (Trulli 7 and Kimi 8 ). That is why it seams to me that FIA might consider this race as skipped by those teams...

[jaslfc]

calm down guys.. nothing is perfect in life.. so for the first time the sport has a problem like this... and all hells breaking lose.. we should just forget it and wait to enjoy the next race in this superb season.. and honestly all this talk about ferrari and fia.. if the table is turned the other way and bridgestone had the problem .. the outcome will be the same

[manchild]

Ferrari says "it is not our problem…". There are 14 cars on Michelin tyres that are likely to explode at 300 km/h and Ferrari still says that. Right, their cars are bullet proof and smashing into another car with blown Michelin or hitting the debris is also not their problem. What a hypocrisy!

They are explaining their attitude and decision by fact that they are on Bridgestone and in the same time two other teams, also on Bridgestone, claim completely different. What we had yesterday there was exactly what Ferrari, Max and Bernie wanted to see. It was like a dream to them - no competition and legal race, double victory over nobody!

When one-race one-tyre rule was proposed by FIA last year situation was identical. Ferrari was the only team that supported Max and Bernie while 9 remaining teams said no. Later they cried over Bridgestone’s awful performance and broke rules by testing whenever they wanted. They are still doing that – testing separately from all other teams.

Their drivers were fair to admit their personal disapproval of team decision as much as they could.

In long term this was a bad decision for Ferrari. They took points here but in the future all of their demands will be outvoted by remaining teams. One must be in respectable relation with its neighbors if he wants to live among them and share some of the common problems. Being unsympathetic for problems of all other teams will get same response to Ferrari once they get in trouble.

[GuestAgain]

RH1300S wrote:
IF the situation was reversed and, let's say, there was only one team on tyres that would not run the race distance, everyone would have shrugged and said "rules and rules", we'll get on with the race (if that one team was Ferrari, they would have been a goodish amount of smug gloating too!). There would have hardly been a blip in the media.

Well, they did say "rules and rules", we'll get on and race. The problem was that there were only six cars able to run. You can't blame the Michelin teams for any of this.

Well here's another quote which I quite agree with:

we’ve been here before. It's surprising nobody’s questioned why Whiting changed the tyre rules at the beginning of the 2003 Brazilian GP.

Back in 2003 you were only allowed to take one wet tyre to races, so you had to make your mind up before the event. Bridgestone arrived at Interlagos with their legendary intermediate tyre that was quite good in wet and mixed conditions. Michelin had a full wet that could run in more rain.

When the heavens opened before the race, Whiting delayed the start because the Bridgestone runners wouldn’t have been able to make it round safely. It was clearly Bridgestone’s fault for not bringing a full wet tyre, but as the argument has gone this weekend – they knew the situation…

After delaying the start the field was then sent round Interlagos behind the Safety Car until enough water was taken off the circuit. Had they released the field when it was suitable for the Michelins on full wets, then Fisichella would never have won the race in his Jordan and Kimi Raikkonen may well have got the win.

Nobody complained because it was a safety issue. Fast forward two years and Whiting is not prepared to compromise in another safety situation. This interpretation of the rules when it suits them makes F1 fans deeply suspicius - it's like there was an agenda here from the FIA.