Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I agree to a point.....but I think that once Michelin said the tires were unsafe that the teams were obligated to not use them. So either they could have used the "new and safe" tires sent by Michelin and incurred the penalty of 10 grid spaces (or starting from the pit). Or the idea of adding a chicane to turn 13 could have been implemented....which probably would have resulted in complaints from the Bridgestone users (rightfully so). I think the idea of having drivers slow down is unrealistic....plus having a slow moving Michelin car would be a hazard for Bridgestone cars.....pretty unsafe for everyone IMO.

My biggest problem is the way it was handled. How hard it would it have been to make a decision sooner or reach a compromise where all parties could have been placated? To have it unfold the way it did was nothing but a cruel joke....especially to those that traveled to Indy from near or very far.

There is no perfect solution but some sort of compromise should have been reached to have a real race.....what happened may have really hurt F1 chances in the US.....I know I'm not ever going again and I'm sure that I am not the only one.

I fell asleep and missed it!! Glad I did in a way.......

Howard,

Your fellow Aussie Mark Webber won the race!!!...not.

I watched the whole thing, I had a great time listening to the commentators here.

They felt bad for all the people that went there although they said all the ones throwing stuff were complete morons :p
I had no idea anyone on the forum went to the GP! I should've checked The Other's sooner...
I have a friend that was at the Canadian GP, what a race that one was! I didn't watch all the races at the start of the year but I think I can safely say that Montreal was the most exciting race up till now.

The first few minutes of this race was very interesting, I was wondering what was going to happen...

One thing that a commentator pointed out was that if Bridgestone would of screwed up like Michelin did, would of the result been the same?

Anyways, I guess only one brand of tyres may be used next year...

I hope that the FIA fines all the Michelin teams and gives the money with extra compensation to Tony George so he can give it back to the spectators. The Bridgestone teams did nothing wrong, the Speedway did nothing wrong, but those stupid Michelin teams made the wrong choice by showing how foolish they were to not race. I hope they lose all their points. They are trying to blame Ferrari and the FIA for ther own mistaken choice to not run the race. If they wanted something to be done, it should have been done before qualifying, then the FIA may have allowed some changes to be made, but once qualifying was over, their hands were tied as they have to enforce the rules.

Something I found quite amusing was that every commercial break had an ad for Michelin sponsoring the race! Lots of Michelin money to show off a Bridgestone tire test. Cool!

Thumbs up Jefferey!
You got it!

On the french canadian channel I get adds for the Hummer H3 all the time...
I think I'm gonna vomit for the next add for it I see...

The teams did nothing "wrong" by not racing (and there is no reason to take points away from them).....but I think it was still a stupid decision. The best that could have been done would have been to get penalyzed the 10 grid spaces for tire changes. 14 cars moved back 10 spaces on the grid......that could be made up with a good launch. Would have made for a great race.

Michelin is French owned.....enough said . They felt there was a problem with their tire so they rushed and got replacements to the track. It seems a little unclear if the teams didn't want to use them due to the penalty of changing them or if the FIA would not allow them to be used at all (penalty or not) since they were different than those used in qualifying. Either way it seems as though Michelin behaved responsibly in admitting that there was a problem and also did good work to get replacements made/shipped so quickly so I don't know how much I blame them except for the fact that they apparently made a bad batch in the first place.

The FIA did nothing wrong in doing things the way they did but I'm sure more could have been done to smooth the situation so there could have been a real race. Their #1 job should be getting fans their money's worth and that was not done. Period. The FIA is laughing all the way to the bank.

The only people who did what they were supposed to were the three teams that actually "raced".

The whole thing was a shame and I hope attendance suffers greatly next year at the USGP.

BTW....most of my opinion is based on what info we received at the track and what I saw on TV back at the hotel so I may not have as complete of a picture as I could have if I saw all of the TV coverage since we were pretty well left in the dark.......and broke.

I agree that Michelin covered their butts properly; the blame falls squarely on the teams. As far as the FIA laughing all the way to the bank, they are not in it for the money as far as I know, that would be Bernie Ecclestone, who would be laughing all the way to the bank, although I am sure he is somewhat concerned because of all the talk about the GPWC breakaway series, that might become a reality now because of all this.

The FIA is an organization that covers most worldwide professional racing events and governs the rules and regulations so they are not a "for profit" organization. Their prime interest is that races are run professionally, properly, and to the rules. Remember, this is the governing body that will fine a team for their brake ducts being .5 millimeters too large! So they have to be consistent. Allowing a race to run with changes made after qualifying is over would be inconsistent with their Prime Directive (philosophy).

Your sugestion of moving the teams back 10 places would have been a valid possibility but the danger would still exist with bad tires on the cars. I heard that the replacement batch of tires were also considered not safe, but I can not verify this.

Sorry....I was inserting FIA when I meant F1 (which is Bernie)....it was late when I was typing and I'm and idiot.....

Here is what Nigel Mansell had to say:

http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?Type=General&PO_ID=33213