[TopAce]

I found this race rather comical. Seeing how 6 cars chase each other(with only two actually trying to overtake one another) all through two hours was not boring... it was special.

What do you think about this whole scandel? I am curious about the consequences. I think the regulations will change in a major way... next year.

[Andreas]

It was patchetical, indeed. IMO, they should have just canceled the entire race. I mean, six cars? Isn't there somekind of minimum requirement?

[Ghostavo]

Next year we are going to have a one car race... the excitement!!!!

[aldo_14]

It was a ****ing joke.  They should have cancelled it and refunded rather than having that farce; or simply allowed the changes to the tires or ciruit to be made, and not awarded the Michelin runners any points (as was suggested by the TV commentator).  Or anything rather than what did happen.

[TopAce]

Originally posted by Andreas
It was patchetical, indeed. IMO, they should have just canceled the entire race. I mean, six cars? Isn't there somekind of minimum requirement?

There must be a minimum required about qualified cars(from qualification to race), not about the car number during race. Once, in Monace, four cars finished(Panis won, then). Naturally, the situation was quite different THEN than it was NOW.

Nothing can be done in relation to this as soon as the cars START the lap before the race starts(I don't know the English term for it, and I am ashamed of this ).

[aldo_14]

Lap before the race is called the 'Formation lap' IIRC.

Um... it was known that none of the Michelin runners could safely race.  So they knew those cars would retire immediately (they only started, I think, due to regulations or some punishment for not doing so).  Which means, even though no rules were broken, they should have done something for the sake of the fans - apparently, tickets cost $85, probably more in other areas.

[Skippy]

IIRC there're supposed to be at least 12 cars to start the race

[TopAce]

Originally posted by Skippy
IIRC there're supposed to be at least 12 cars to start the race

Maybe this has changed this year.
OR
This minimum is valid for the already mentioned formation lap.

[aldo_14]

I think the latter.

[Deepstar]

For me as TV-Viewer it was a special race, it was funny, i never laught so much in a Formula One Race, but for all visitors of this race, this was ........

[IceFire]

Sorry...what happened?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by IceFire
Sorry...what happened?

Ralf Schumacher had an unexplained tyre blowout in qualifying (or was it practice?); spun off and hit the wall on the oval.  Had it not been for protection added for F1 races there, he could have lost both legs or his life.

Anyways, Michelin examined the tyres and found they had a manufacturing defect in them that meant they couldn't guarentee their safety across all 70-odd laps (tyre changes no longer being allowed at pit stops).  So the 7 (out of 10) teams using Michelin tyres couldn't race; they appealed to the ruling body to put a slow-down chicane on that track for safety (i.e. to allow them to race), but Ferrari refused to allow this, and a unanimous decision between the teams would be needed for it (NB: they could still make the change, but it would then be considered a non-championship race with no points awarded).

anyways, the Michelin teams can't change tyres, even to a new batch of fixed tyres Michelin wanted to ship over.  Their own option was to maybe try and 'go slow', which no F1 team would or could (the drivers wouldn't, and what is 'slow' anyways) ever do.

So the 20 cars went out on the formation lap, round the circuit before settingly onto the grid for the start proper.  Except at the end of this lap, the 7 teams using Michelin all retired their drives; leaving only 6 out of 20 drivers to actually start the race.

And given that 2 of those drivers were Ferrari, and the other 4 from the worst teams on the circuit, the race was a complete joke.

[Clave]

Yes, it was completely wrong.

But, the drivers were ordered not to race by Michelin, and there was no way in hell they were going to ignore that on safety grounds - especially not in the most litigious country in the entire universe...

The FIA again showed it's stubborness and lack of compassion for the fans of F1 round the world.  'The show must go on' is NOT in their phrasebook.

The race organisers, and promoters should have postponed the race and made the tickets valid for a later date.

Michelin are ultimately to blame though, they screwed up very badly, and from the comments made during the 'race' it could be only Bridgestones in F1 pretty soon...

I feel sorry for all the US fans, this just sucked for them, and nobody really explained what was happening - they deserve better.  F1 is a great spectacle, but today it was a ****ing shambles...

They should bring back tyre changes in pit stops now.  Even if the Michelin runners had to come in every 10 laps, at least there would have been some kind of race..

Damn those stubborn people for spoiling a good afternoon!

All I can say to everyone in the US is: give us one more chance, and we're very, very sorry to have ****ed up so badly...

I'm praying they have no problems in France in a couple of weeks, because this weekend was a blight on one of the best F1 seasons for about 10 years...

[Clave]

Story is up on ITV's site now:

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=33189

[kasperl]

BTW: Ralf crashed in the same corner, with same tires, last year, and that nearly killed him too.

Anyway, I think this was a farce, and shouldn't be allowed.

[Roanoke]

Always seems to be Ferrari who object when everyone else has agreed.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Clave
But, the drivers were ordered not to race by Michelin

Michelin advised not to race

Michelin are ultimately to blame though, they screwed up very badly, and from the comments made during the 'race' it could be only Bridgestones in F1 pretty soon...

Well, they are to blame, I suppose, ther tires were at fault, but I find admirable that, regardless of the bad image that would give them, they decided to question the quality of their own product and choose security first.
As for the comments, well, lol Michelin knows how to make tires, they will make new ones, more adapted to such stupid circuits, and that's it.

[TopAce]

Originally posted by Roanoke
Always seems to be Ferrari who object when everyone else has agreed.

They had the base right now. They have been suffering because of the tyres so far and they were given no advantage. When Michelin asked the construction of the chicane, it was no surprise Ferrari rejected it, finding the whole request unfair.

[aldo_14]

Ferrari are, however, interested in making it a club of one; hence the other nine teams threat to breakaway.  They put themselves ahead of the sport, and IMO that can't be a good thing, however justified they can claim their position was.

Michelin screwed up, and the FIA screwed up in response.  As a result, F1 in the US is probably dead - and that's going to hurt a lot of teams, especially sponsors.

[Nico]

Then again, Minardi and Jordan accepted. Where did they (Ferrari) miss that F1, with all its big bucks, was still a sport, you know, the spirit of sport, etc?