2005 United States Grand Prix

This, from grandprix.com, sums it up beautifully I think.

'The whole process seems to us to be against the interests of the sport. Michelin has made a mistake. That is plain to see. If fixing the mistake means that there are only six cars running in the United States GP then so be it, but if that happens the powers that be must be willing to face the criticism that will inevitably come.

There is no safety net with the current F1 regulations.

What we want to see - and what all the F1 fans around the world want to see - is a safe race where everyone gets an equal chance. What we do not want to see is a Ben Hur-like competition, with cars suffering tyre failures and hitting walls.

Formula 1 goes into Sunday at Indianapolis with a loaded gun in its hand. Hopefully someone will have the sanity to make sure that the gun does not go off.'
 
Perhaps they should for one race only allow tyre changes without penalty for all teams and insist that all Michellin teams use the original tyres (as Michaelln have state dhat they are oK for half a race distance - now most people would be making 2 stops so that shouldnt be a problem).
 
Type_R said:
This, from grandprix.com, sums it up beautifully I think.
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It really does, I think the outcome of this is that we will be heading back to a single tyre supplier sooner rather than later. The only reservation I have about that is the method by which it is implemented. If the FIA want to impose a tyre on everyone then they have to do it fairly, that is by limiting the amount of tyre testing that the teams do to try and ensure that there isn't an under the table deal between one or more teams and the tyre supplier to provide a tyre design that is designed for those teams alone. The FIA (or is it Bernie?) already own Paul Ricard, they could put their hand in their pocket and pick up a couple of year or two old F1 chassis and do all the tyre development in house.
 
Duke said:
I heard on the radio they want to build a chicane just before the final corner or something :o
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I think the suggestion was to put it in the middle of turn 13, on the banking so that the cars were slower through the high load section of the lap.

Personally I think that's a daft idea, redesign a circuit in 12 hours? No way can that be done successfully or safely. I remember the temporary chicane that they put in at Barcelona in 94 (I think), that was just two offest walls of tyres. Potentially you could do the same at Indy but there are still hazards - the tyres have to be restrained in some way so that, in the event of an accident, they don't end up all over the track or worse in the crowd. What do you do if someone does hit them? Run under the saftey car for half an hour while it gets rebuilt?

At the end of the day the outcome will be some form of compromise. The reputation of F1 in the US is still tarnished from Ferrari's attempt at a dead heat a few years back, the last thing it needs is a 6 car race now. Toyota will be unwilling to give up their ever first pole, especially in their biggest market. Time will tell but F1 doesn't have a great history of resolving issues like this in a sensible manner.
 
There are even some rumours that the Michelin runners will do the parade lap and then pit in and not run the race. Absolutely absurd as far as I am concerned. I think, as someone mentioned before, let all teams change tyres throughout the race. Although this does decrease if not nulate any advantage the Bridgestone teams have in this situation currently.
 
Allowing stops is probably the easiest solution but are there physically enough tyres at the circuit to allow them to do that? The current rules say that if you have to change a tyre due to a puncture then it has to be replaced with one of similar milage where possible rather than a brand new one.

Unless they start using the tyres which they rejected on Friday then I doubt there are enough to go round.
 
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rpstewart said:
Allowing stops is probably the easiest solution but are there physically enough tyres at the circuit to allow them to do that? The current rules say that if you have to change a tyre due to a puncture then it has to be replaced with one of similar milage where possible rather than a brand new one.

Unless they start using the tyres which they rejected on Friday then I doubt there are enough to go round.
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Very good point. It seems every viable option to be explored brings up even more breaking of the rules.
 
//Mike said:
Does anyone know what's going on with the tobacco livery on some of the cars? Both Ferrari and BAR are running with different livery, however Renault and McLaren have their usual Mild Seven/West livery???
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Actually now that u mention it, thats true. I'll have to look into that one and get back to u.
 
US tobacco legislation is strange. IIRC a company can only run full branding in one major series in North America (inc Canada) - Phillip Morris already promote their Marlboro brand in IRL (Penske I think) so Ferrari cannot run in Marlboro branding. Not sure who BAT run.

Canada may be tobacco free now but used to be the same rules as the US but with the additional caveat that you could only sponsor Candian manufactured brands - hence West, despite being German, was allowed but Mild Seven as a Japanese manufactured brand were not.
 
goreblast said:
Which of the current GPs would you lose the least sleep over if it was to be dropped from the calender as replaced with (eg) Russia or South Africa. For me it would have to be Hungary.
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I wouldn't be overly upset at Monaco going missing. At best it seems to be a chance for manufacturers to spend a lot of money on PR trips, but the "racing" is non-existent due to the narrowness of the track. The only positives I can see are the skill of the drivers to keep their cars out of the walls, and historical nature of the race.

I also wouldn't mind seeing only one race run in each country. None of this San Marino Grand Prix (but we'll run it at the local track in Italy), or "European" Grand Prix (always held at the same track) business. If it's a European Grand Prix, then allow it to be run in each of the competing European countries in turn.
 
Could Michelin deliberatley have used softer tyres or "Qualifying only tyres" which cannot last the race distance to allow the Michelin teams to be further up the grid in the hope that the new harder tyres will be allowed?
 
7pm

More news on the tyres
from http://www.formula1.com/race/news/3197/740.html

Michelin have told the FIA that they are unsure the tyres used in qualifying will be safe to race unless the speeds in the banked Turn 13 can be reduced.

In response, the FIA have outlined a number of options available to Michelin, the most obvious being to instruct their teams to run at reduced speeds through the final corner, while not obstructing other cars.

If Michelin teams were to run the new tyres they would face a penalty. The FIA stated that this was unlikely to be exclusion from the race, but that it would be heavy enough to ensure teams were not tempted to change tyres after qualifying at future events.

Another option available to the teams would be running the existing tyres, but changing them frequently if they could show this was needed on safety grounds and if no competitive advantage was gained. Using more than their allocated tyres could, however, present further complications.

Finally, the FIA ruled out the possibility of modifying the track to slow the entry into Turn 13, as this would be outside the rules and also unfair to Michelin’s Bridgestone competitors who have had no problems with their tyres.

What the Michelin teams will actually do remains unclear. Some are likely to be unhappy if they have to run different tyres to those they tested all through practice, and there has even been speculation that some might simply take the start and then retire. More news to follow as developments occur.
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From one stand point i'd like to see the michelin runners do the parade lap then pit and retire, 99% of the viewers would switch off imo, and might send the message to the FIA that they are idiots...

But obviously i want to see a decent race, preferably fairly safely as well...

Surely the best course of action, knowing that the tyres are unsafe, would be for the FIA to say, right, for one race only you may change your tyres for new tyres in the pit stops, but they must be the same compound as your race tyres, and that applies to all runners, e.g. even the bridgestone runners if they so desire...
 
SKILL said:
From one stand point i'd like to see the michelin runners do the parade lap then pit and retire, 99% of the viewers would switch off imo, and might send the message to the FIA that they are idiots...

But obviously i want to see a decent race, preferably fairly safely as well...

Surely the best course of action, knowing that the tyres are unsafe, would be for the FIA to say, right, for one race only you may change your tyres for new tyres in the pit stops, but they must be the same compound as your race tyres, and that applies to all runners, e.g. even the bridgestone runners if they so desire...
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I like all your points especially the first one!! It would be nice to see the viewing audience to say to Max and Bernie "You ****!" and switch off

Star out your swear words!!!
 
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