who ever said FIA would not let the new tires be run is not true. According to the press release from Michelin even the new tires were not siutable to race.

Quote from f1-live [snip]"Monumentally disappointed," said IMS president Joie Chitwood, who said he and Speedway chief executive Tony George were shocked when the seven teams provided with Michelin tyres pulled out after the warm-up lap.

"I can tell you this, we feel as victimized as the fans do in what they witnessed today," Joie said.

Particularly infuriating to circuit officials, whose events include the famed Indianapolis 500, was the fact that they had no input as to how the week's events unfolded once a practice crash alerted Michelin to the fact they had a problem.

Asked if the speedway would have been prepared to install the temporary chicane requested by Michelin and their teams in time for the race start, Joie said they were never even asked."

 

Yeah the FIA and F1 have major issues and the politics stink, but on this issue no matter how hard I try, I can't fault them for Michelin not bringing a tire that doesn't fall apart on banked turns. I bet if the people that ran NASCRAP ran F1, they would have had the track workers placing sprinklers around the track so everyone could run in the wet on rain tires so everything would be fair...After all, there was nothing wrong with their intermediates...

Come to think of it, Michelin have run better than Bridgestone all year, correct? And Michelin is from France, who hate our guts, correct? And the French would just LOVE it if our single F1 Gran Prix got screwed up, correct? Just a thought...

 

that race was BULL*&#@...period....All teams had qualifying and practice sessions prior to the race and only Ralf Schumacher's tires failed......Michelin are a bunch of pussies....freiking frogs!!!

 

The FIA should have allowed a chicane to be put in (easy, just put cones) and allowed the race. They then should have followed up with a heavy fine to Michelin next week for not building a race tire that can stand up to Indy. (If Bridgestone could, why not Michelin?) In the end the spectators and TV audience that pay for ALL of this to happen to begin with, were cheated. Ridiculous.

 

haha thought that was funny

 

I went to the race today, (have been to them all)

Was I upset? Nope.

Gas to drive to Indy: $60
Tickets: $85 each
Program: $10
Witnessing 7 teams with sponsorship budgets totaling over 2 BILLION dollars not being prepared and one of the most memorable races in F1 history: Priceless.


The best prepared teams finished up front today.. happens every race I watch.

Jon K
www.seat-time.com

 

Just got back from the race....

Sunday sucked but the rest of the weekend was fun.

Anyways, sucks for everyone. Im gonna have to blame the FIA on this on for not adopting rules in the beginning of the season to be flexible enough to allow these things to happen. I agree with not changing the track or the rules today to fix the problem, but the rules should have been better to begin with. Yeah michelin brought crappy tires, but the FIA has to accomodate a fix to the problem (albeit with a penalty) in the best interest of the sport and its spectators.

 

B/c ferrari voted no chicane (against every other team who voted yes) so it never went to the IMS officals.

 

has anyone put a thought to the track being prepared?? didnt they take a diamond grinder to that area of the track?? why is it they only had a problem in that one section of the track?? as someone said earlier that the "unloaded tire" was chewed up, i would blame that on the track conditions and NOT on michelin.

when i watched the qualifying on speed tv, they all took lap 13 through the pits usually and not on the one part of the track. i am starting to suspect a part of the track that was not prepared or grinded correctly. the commentators were talking about the track early on in the broadcast and how the tires werent performing only in the one section. had they put a chicane there to slow down the cars, sure, but would it constitute a rule change?? i dont think so. i think i should have been up to the teams to demand a chicane or run the risk of losing a car and driver to that corner. some cars did fine through that corner, others didnt take that chance during practice.

 

like stated earlier when bridgestone had problems, no one put up the chicane for them... any way the FIA says if u start on a certain tire, must finish on it, unless its blown... plain and simple, some things need to change.... nothing like this should ever happen again...

and for the FIA World Rally, I really hope to see them move back to the current setup in the near future... the 06 setup looks sad... if more non-manufacture teams wanna join in then i suggest they find some good sponsars...

 

I went to the F1 race today and personally I'm almost depressed of the thought of F1 basically being done here in Indianapolis. I've been every year and had a great time. Its easy to be mad about the situation...especially after how expensive just going to the race is, but I'm trying to be understanding at the same time.

I put Michelin to blame....The thought of the track being screwed up is a good thought, but why weren't the bridgestone tires blowning up then?

I did notice on the last turn how the Formula BMW, Porsche, and F1 cars were all getting a little squirrely....perhaps it has something to do with the track, but then again I doubt it.

Micheline simply wasn't prepared to race today...the FIA shouldn't have changed the rules, but I'm sure there could have been some sort of compromise such as making anyone putting the new michelin tires on go to the rear at the start.

It sucks....I just hope I'm not going to have to make a road trip to canada next year because it doesn;t come back here

 

What if you spent millions of dollars preparing your car for a track without a chicane only to have one put in at the last minute...you probably would have gone with different gears, aero, ... No way in hell I would want them to change the track at the last minute if I'm Ferrari. Hell my "inferior" Bridgestones are holding up, what's up why do I have to make concessions for the "superior" Michelins for them not to fall apart?

 

Because there was ~130,000 fans that paid to see a race. The FIA, FOM and to a lesser extent Michelin, and to a huge extent Ferarri, don't give a crap about this event or the fans. That's the message I heard yesterday, loud and clear.

What would have happened if they had raced, and 15 laps into the race cars started hitting the wall? Would the FIA have stopped the race after the third car? The fourth? Maybe when someone had to be airlifted out?

Without a doubt Michelin was unprepared. It is also undeniable that Bridgestone had much better data on the new surface of the track from the tire work that Firestone did there during May. It's still inexcuseable that a compromise couldn't be reached.

 

So yes, I do agree that it was Michelin's fault for not building a proper tire to handle 13 but it was the FIA's fault for not allowing a concession (chicane) to be made to continue. Yes, it would be somewhat unfair to Bridgestone runners but it would have avoided all this fiasco.

Now, you are looking at multiple lawsuits. Will there be another USGP at indy? Maybe. Will attendance be down? Yes. So now Tony George (who is not one of my favorite people anyway) is going to be out future earnings as a result of poor ticket sales. Sponsors are could lose the huge potential market that the US is. Not to mention all of the fans that paid lots of money for a bridgestone test session.

All of this because of ego and not putting their customers (the fans) first. They have obviously forgotten the sport wouldn't exist if fans didn't come to see it.

I was planning to go next year and I went for the first 3 USGPs at indy. I was hoping to see Scott Speed race next year but even if he does, I won't go. I am really glad I didn't go this year. If I did, there is no way I would have stayed. Good luck to all the Speedway ticket people that are going to be taking some serious abuse from people who bought tickets for the GP.

FIA

USGP@Indy - RIP

 

i cannot beleive you guys are trying to blame the FIA. like machron said, you cant just add a few chicanes after practice, qualifing, and even a warm-up lap. these guys' drving style is so tuned with the setup of the car it is riduclous wouldnt the car be set-up for WOT for some ridicukous 38 second amount of time. ( the longest burst in a race)you cant just change at the last minute. kudos for ferrari, and bridgstone for finally catching up with michelin. if the one tire set per race wasnt around this wouldnt be a problem. that is the safety issue. ralph hit the wall (unprotected portion) last year at over 190 MPH backwords. i remember the broadcaster estimated the force of 70 G's at impact. he broke his back, and i would be scared to race as well on a tire that wasnt tested, or effective. this is michelins bad, not the FIA's, not the other teams, and for all you haters, not ferraris. did you see shuey with the trophy, or spraying champagne..... didnt think so. he got it held it, set it down and walked off.