2005 United States Grand Prix

[Gregeff]

Because the track was being changed to suit the others who didn't get it right first time?

Yes but the Michelin runners said they would be happy to run WITH the track changes but WITHOUT scoring any points. Hense Ferrari would have still got 18 points, Jordon and Minardi would have still got their points, but the spectators would have had a race to watch. Everyone wins.

 

[PikeyPriest]

^^ I`m not sure why that didnt happen. I`m not sure what offers where made. I heard that only 3 main possibilities were discussed:

-new tyres (with any resulting penalty later)
-running slowly on the last corner (michelin rejected as unacceptable)
-chicane with drivers loosing qualifying positions (but race open on points) - FIA said no to this due to unfair penalising of bridgestone runners

maybe the press-release will reveal all details of what was discussed and who turned what down.

Easily the worst race i have ever watched......

Looks like bridgestone may be the sole tyre provider aswell. Michelin messed up massively on the world stage. At least they didnt have an advert for run flat tyres in between the race, that would have really rubbed salt in to the wounds!

 

[vanpeebles]

yep the press release given by the teams said they offered to race without scoring any points

 

[PikeyPriest]

Just read

"New tyres brought in by Michelin from France overnight after the failures on Friday had been ruled out after tests by the company."

So they couldnt run these tyres and face whatever punishment later.

 

[james86]

Just got back from the race, it was definitely an experience.
Was the first race I'd been to and I really enjoyed it, not only for the "race" but for the many angry Americans around me
Thankfully we hadn't paid for our tickets and we're in Indianapolis for the summer, but there were a lot of europeans there who I imagine had paid £0000s to come to Indy for the race especially.
There was a bit of talk about what would happen with the situtation due to the tyres before the race, but nobody seemed to know exactly what would happen.
When the other drivers started to pull in there was an uproar, people were throwing onto the track, booing, swearing, etc and loads of people were leaving all the time between the star of the race and the end. They sent more security people into the stands and quite a few people started to get thrown out for throwing bottles onto the track, although I didn't see anything actually get onto the parts of the track being used by the drivers.
There was a lot of talk of the guy who owns the speedway (can't remember his name) refusing to do another US GP although I presume this was just talk.
I didn't see anyone making violent protests, but the commentators (who were pretty much silent throughout the race) kept on appealing to supporters throughout to calm down and not take out their anger on each other.
Was a great day out though and very interesting to see all the "disgruntled" fans, having never seen an F1 race in person however I was quite shocked to see the amount of ferrari fans all dressed up in merchandise, yet there were only a handful of renault fans and I didn't see any other people dressed up as much for a particular team.
Coming out, there seemed to be a lot more police than going in, I think they're really expecting some trouble of some sort, and I imagine there may will be downtown tonight when all the fans get together.

 

[[ASSE]Hinchy]

I heard it was Michelin said that they didn't want them to race as they would have a case of negligence against them should an accident and ultimately injury occured. Although I think they had made all teams sign a disclaimer that if they were to race then Michelin would not be to blame for the consequences as they had warned them about it.

Something like that anyway.

Besides, what would have happened if a Michelin car running for no points would have taken out a Bridgestone car that would have been able to get points in that scenario? I guess it would at least be racing though.

 

[SDK^]

A sad day for F1 and its fans, especially those paying and travelling long distances to watch the race.

Michelin have made a major blunder and I feel the FIA will very severely punish them. It certainly won't help them in the selection process for a single tyre supplier.

 

[Conanius]

A sad day for F1 and its fans, especially those paying and travelling long distances to watch the race.

Michelin have made a major blunder and I feel the FIA will very severely punish them. It certainly won't help them in the selection process for a single tyre supplier.

Michelin's major blunder would have been to not inform the teams....

bare in mind, Michelin have already stated they cant work out what happened, and that they cant reproduce the fault...

 

[Scania]

Good God! that was a tough race for Ferrari.

A win that was well fought and much deserved. I was seriously worried about the Jordans they were closing fast.
Muahahaha

F1

 

[Richard T]

The FIA should be disgusted with themselves....All those fans at the track and all of us watching on TV. What a shambles. and Bernie you berk! He never back down even (as in this case when he's completly wrong) ..what were you thinking?? Martin Brundles reaction on the grid said it all. "Ah Mrs Ecclestone lets talk to someone sensible!"

And LOL at Martins comments at the end about punching shuey!!! Only 6 cars on the track and Shuey still manages to run someone off the road...and it his team mate

 

[sphen]

"New tyres brought in by Michelin from France overnight after the failures on Friday had been ruled out after tests by the company."

So they couldnt run these tyres and face whatever punishment later.

Michelin could not identify the fault, so there was the possibility that the "defect" might have been replicated, right?

 

[andyfield]

A sad day for F1 and its fans, especially those paying and travelling long distances to watch the race.

Michelin have made a major blunder and I feel the FIA will very severely punish them. It certainly won't help them in the selection process for a single tyre supplier.

Yup pretty much as per what most people have said. A VERY sad day for F1, I think this will have ruined the chances of F1 in the USA for a long time to come. My heart really went out to the guy who said he'd spent 2 months salary to go and see the race and thats what he gets in return, disgraceful!

Personally I think they should have installed some form of chicane, and either let the Bridgestone runners go in front or for only them to receive points. As it was run, it was just a pathetic show of the management involved in F1.

Previously I hoped F1 would live long and prosper as well as going back to how it used to be with more overtaking etc. I'm now hoping for a decent rival to F1 being started with no teams very dominent.

There's always a lot of debate about Ferrari good and bad, it seems a shame they never go with the majority in the interests of the sport. Spie is the rarri going back?

I somehow hope they can sort out the mess they've created amicably and the fans get a decent refund for what happenned.

Good to hear the info from someone who was actually there. Looking forward to what Flibster has to say about his experiences, should make interesting reading!

 

[Richard T]

Why is the BBC site saying that the Michelin teams boycotted the race?? Surely they had no choice?

 

[//Mike]

No, it isn't. Most sport is about competition, about competing to be the best on a given day in a given situation. The way you speak suggests that sport itself exists solely to provide entertainment for those watching, which is so far from the truth it's ridiculous.

I'm sure everyone would have preferred michelin to not have screwed up and to have had a full grid, but that doesn't mean that the rulebook for the rest of the year should be forgotten to accomplish it.

-Dolph

OK, my comment about sport only being about entertainment was slightly wrong . In fact, I would say sport is about a mix of our 2 points... ask any sportsman or woman and they'll say they want to be out there because of a) Their love of the sport, and b) to be the best of the competition.

However, F1 is arguably the most glamorous sport in the world, and at the end of the day, it's all about money. Now, if you don't have teams competing then theres potentially a lot of money being lost either due to ticket sales, or sponsorship or whatever. In a sport where money is so important, it would be a shame for such a large number of teams to potentially leave the sport because of inability to compete. Therefore above safety, etc, should it not be the duty of the FIA or the powers that be, to do as much as they can to allow the race to continue, and help to secure the future of the sport, which now looks very much in question?

And so what if the rule book was amended for just this race? From what I can understand all 10 teams had agreed on a solution, and ultimately nothing was done about it. The revised rules will have not had affected anybody, otherwise they wouldn't have agreed to it.

People also seem to be missing the fact that the rule book didn't necessarily have to be chaucked out the window. As we all know, teams are allowed to change tyres under grounds of safety. Obviously these tyres weren't safe, so why weren't the Michelin runners allowed to change their tyres in a pit stop?

 

[Rebelius]

as i understand it: cos there weren't any good tyres to change to. And they couldnt just do a 6 stop race because the tyres were totally un-predictable and could have gone on their first lap?

I recon they should've delayed it a couple of hours, put in the chicane and given everyone an hour practice or something. Although i have no real idea whether this is possible.

 

[jmp]

it was just another element to the 'tyre war'. the race was unfair to the fans as a live spectacle but rules are rules and exceptions shouldn't be made. wrong tyres, tough luck. get over it.

 

[SC04]

Does anyone know if Michelin were informed about the changes to the surface of the track? Given that Bridgestone had already raced there, they already had an advantage, so a chicane would have been fairer than some people think.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Why should a multi million pound tyre company need to be informed - they should be CHECKING for themselves.

 

[vanpeebles]

Why should a multi million pound tyre company need to be informed - they should be CHECKING for themselves.

i dont know if they could do that because it would out of hours testing or something?

 

[SC04]

Why should a multi million pound tyre company need to be informed - they should be CHECKING for themselves.

sorry I didnt have the testing slots for Indianapolis handy when posting