The FIA Decides: Or More To The Point, Evades
Written by George Katinger · June 29, 2005
The FIA World Council has found the seven offending Michelin shod teams guilty of two of the five charges lodged by Mad Max. Guilty for not bringing “suitable” tires to race, and guilty for not racing through the pit lane. Incredible!
grandprix.com: World Council decision
speedtv.com: French GP Safe as Penalties for Michelin Teams Won’t Come Out Until September
sportnetwork.net: crash.net: US Grand Prix driver statement in full.
planet-f1.com: No extra penalty for BAR
formula1.skysports.com: Michelin teams to appeal against FIA decision
grandprix.com: The drivers on the subject of speed limits and chicanes
Yes, once again the FIA has managed to evade all blame for their own incompetance, and more to the point Max Mosley’s contribution to the Indy fiasco. They also have found the teams guilty of the vaguest of the two charges without reference to any written regulation in support of their finding.
What garbage! Can anyone show me anywhere within the rules the definition of a suitable race tire? Is it a tire that is puncture proof under all conditions? Most conditions? Some conditions? Is it a tire that won’t flat spot under the hardest of braking conditions, over and over again? Or is it a tire that will not shred on impact with carbon fiber shards? You could go on forever with the questions and you won’t find any answers because they don’t exist, only within the figment of Max’s politicaly driven imagination.
And how about being guilty of not consenting to race through the pit lane? What’s the pit lane speed limit, 50, 60, 70 miles per hour? It doesn’t matter, it’s just sheer stupidty. If the FIA were concerned about the fan reaction to six cars on the track, can you imagine the reactions if 14 cars took detours through pit lane for 70 laps? They would have turned into a soccer mob and burned down the house!
When will the Council hold hearings on Max’s culpability? Who judges the depth of his actions or lack of same in a crises never before seen in F1? If the teams had raced with a chicane as they all (except Ferrari) agreed, there would be no lawsuits, no controversies, and no political base for Max to wield additional power. Because that’s what today’s decision was all about.
How so George, you may ask? The proof is in the imposition of the penalties. The sanctions will not be imposed until September 14th and Max will have all of that time to bash the teams (or so he thinks) into some sort of compliance with the Concorde extension he desperately covets. The teams are now dealing from weakness as they will be reluctant to offend lest the penalties imposed on the 14th become draconian. Consider BAR’s position, they are already under suspended banishment, and can have their season pulled out from under them at any time. All the other teams are now in a similar state of caution.
Yes, for the last time, Michelin brought on the entire fiasco by not having adequate tires; but they tried to resolve the problem in an open and relatively reasonable way for the good of the sport and the sake of the fans. Which is more than Max can say, and now the World Council. The relative light verdict and the charges they cited can lead one to believe they were reaching for something to hang their hats on, only to avoid legal obligations in the courts. If the other guys are guilty, we must be innocent. Except in this instance we have a corrupt prosecutor in league with self serving ass-covering judges.
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16 Responses to “The FIA Decides: Or More To The Point, Evades”
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Lest we not forget, Max and the FIA kicked the can down the road in the hopes Ferrari would remain in the tank til September.
By then maybe, just maybe the Drivers Championship will be decided and Max can extract his revenge by suspending a couple of teams at a time and not by charged with tilting the season Ferrari’s way.
All that has happen since the f1 fiasco at indy, just shows the arrogance of the powers to be are totally ignorant to the fact that the fans are the ones who actually matter
Max is a dictator–no doubt. But why penalize the prepared (Bridgestone) teams by restricting them to compete with the ill-prepared F1asco-seven Michelin? To say the Bridgestone teams get to go flat out is to say they don’t lift for T13. Absurd! All drivers throw down counter-measures for a turn–it’s a matter of how much counter measures. If your equipment sucks, you throw more down. And that’s what the F1asco 7 should have done–slowed down enough to be safe. The argument about the delta of speed being dangerous is crazy… a modest 10 MPH reduction in entry is not going to confuse world-class performance drivers. Ultimately, Michelin let down their teams. To blame someone unpopular yet unfairly is equally shameful.
i agree with sk on this one. i cant for the life of me understand how anyone can spin this into a fia problem.
the fia do a ton of stupid things but this can not be listed as one of them!
I keep hearing the ‘if it was Bill France he would make sure there was a show’ line.
If you agree then fine, go watch NASCAR as they have no rules that cant be changed for the sake of favoritism, even to the fans.
I applaud the FIA and FOM for standing up for what is correct and sticking to the RULES.
Have you stopped to look at the situation from this angle?
Let’s say you are Michelin and you messed up big time and brought the wrong engine. Ok your rival team has the correct equipment with them. The FIA says you can do option 1, 2, 3, or 4. But doing any one of those would ensure your rival wins and gains points on you. So you say the only acceptable option is 5 there for making the race a non sanctioned event and ensuring you the same lead in points you had before the race.
The FIA rightly says no way and tells you to do one of the 4 options they offered to at least put on a show for the fans. You decide to send a car out with no fuel onboard to get the pole and the news. Showing those that truly look that you have already decided on Saturday not to race on Sunday!
So it’s Sunday morning. Do you keep the cars in the garage and say, hey we aren’t going to race? Nope you put the cars on the grid so the fans at the track are left in the dark that you’re not going to race if it doesn’t benefit you. Brilliant move as it shields the drivers and teams from the media out on the track and pit-lane. Once the formation lap happens you pull the cars in so you dodge the media and fans reaction. If the fans get angry the only ones that could be hurt from this move are your rivals that are racing the best they can for the fans.
Oh yes the big bonus is that the rival team in a attempt to make a good show out of your huge mistake has a close call and pinheads give them a hard time for racing hard!!!!!
Just a thought.
insert tire for engine above :(
Max the weasel won!
I read the decisions made by him and his 25 minions. If you read the statements you’ll come away scatching your head; if they are not guilty of the first three, they can’t be of the last two.
By putting off the penalty till September 14th, he effectively checkmated the teams.
If the teams accept this, they deserve what they get.
Will Max Mosley please confirm a story covered in a Sydney newspaper this week; ie that Adolf Hitler (yes THAT Adolf Hitler) attended his fathers wedding to the Mitford family. Max comes from a long line of idiots who have been imprsionned for treason and now the Mosley boy Max is a dictator himself. Go away Max, you’re a loser just like your Fascist Dad.
Hey, Peter! Try to focus on the subject at hand. Who gives a f**k what Max’s father did? I don’t, and I’ve been calling for Max’s head on a pike for a couple of years. Why? Because of things that Max did himself. This “sins of the father” bullshit has got to stop. Otherwise, I’m a womanizing alcoholic, and I don’t even drink.
Viper,
You are a dreamer.
That stuff won’t work.
That’s not racing.
i agree with sk and viper. how can people spin it into a problem with fia? it’s as though the michelin teams are the rule makers and run the championship now. absurd!
For the last time, for Viper and cccp’s benefit: The FIA did NOT cause the problem, they grossly mismanaged it. To the detriment of all. Michelin should be banned from the sport for the near tragic mistake they caused, but Max, instead of guiding the teams through it, compounded it. If you can’t see the merit to that argument then there’s no point in discussing it.
I am right all the time; that’s one approach to controversy I’ve learned from Max!! Just being my usual sarcastic self guys, your opinions are always welcome.
Rules is rules is rules, as I’ve said in a couple other threads here. Would the NFL allow two teams to play without helmets “just this once” because one’s equipment failed to arrive for the game? Sadly, if you aren’t prepared to race, you don’t race. Michelin were not prepared to race, and juking the fans and media with their feints only made me yell “f*ck*ng Michelin!” when they actually did what was threatened. The teams DO deserve sanctions against them, but Michelin surely deserve the bulk of the blame and punishment. F1/FIA can’t really be the problem (for once) in this instance. Geez. Now I’m defending the FIA. I need an aspirin.
If 21 out of 30 of the NFL’s team’s helmets were proved to be defective, and the choice came down to no games televised or some other alternative way of playing the game, what do you think would happen? Damn right, the LEAGUE would have found a way to get the games played, end of story. thanks again Max, your leadership is brilliant.
Okay. I do actually recall an AHL incident about 30 years ago or so, or perhaps EHL, in which one team showed up about 4 hours late to the game (fog) without gear, and someone located college gear the teams could use. I believe the NFL would never allow fitted, proper safety gear to NOT be used. It’s likely the NHL wouldn’t go for it, too. That said, I am going to point out the CRAP the Michelin teams are spewing with their citation of Indiana state law that the participants can not “knowingly” engage in an activity they “knew” is dangerous, and that the act itself is nearly a de facto conviction. Hmm. As I recall, while being airborne from a kart racing accident in the 70’s, racing was something I did “knowing” that it was dangerous, as do all drivers or riders now. Does that mean that “knowing” that racing is potentially extremely dangerous makes it a de facto felonious action in Indiana? I’ll give ONLY BAR Honda their props… at least they are reserving judgement of the judgement day to come until such time. The French GP was fun, and Alonso’s winning wasn’t terribly shocking, eh? BUT, I almost wish I was simply watching races and didn’t know or care anything about the various series. Bernie’s a putz and Max is more detrimental to the sport than the teams or Michelin. Bad things happen, but I agree, the single tire-set rule sucks, and bi-race engines is such a head-scratcher, I don’t even want to go there. Sure, in summation, the NFL will play in pretty much any weather, with or without crowd, but no helmets? Come on…
Nomirrors, you missed my point. I didn’t say they’d play without helmets, I said the league would have found a way to overcome the problem and get the games played. There’s a difference.