What To Say About The 2005 USGP?
Written by Josh Katinger · June 19, 2005
Normally I (or George) would be posting race results and quip little comments about who did what in today’s USGP. However, I almost couldn’t get past writing the title to this posting. I looked for inspiration and found things like “Driver Protest Mars Grand Prix Race” and “It may be last GP here: Stoddart.” But the ones that really hit the nail on the head seem to include the words “farce” and “shame.”
GrandPrix.com: Thumbs down for Formula 1
F1Racing.net: Fans boo Schumacher to victory
c.c.c.p.: michelin farce
Full Throttle: FIA Foster an Unmitagated Disaster
IndyStar.com: Fans outraged by depleted race field
F1-Live.com: Joint statement from the Michelin runners
USGPIndy.com: Statement To Fans By IMS CEO Tony George
USGPIndy.com: Joie Chitwood USGP Press Conference Quotes
While I can never and would never compare this idiocy to something as tragic as the death of a great driver, the last time I can remember feeling this discouraged and “sorry” for F1 is when Ayrton Senna died. It really is the last time that the sport was in a state of shock that could be compared to that which was caused by the display that was put on at the Indy Motor Speedway in today’s USGP.
I’m not even posting the race results since a “race” as I know it didn’t occur today.
For those of you who don’t know I’ll try to sum up: Michelin supplies all but 3 of the teams that run the F1 circuit with tires. They got their tire compound all wrong this weekend and the tiers were failing in the super high speed corner onto the main straight. Last year Ralf Schumacher broke his back crashing there. This year in practice he crashed again and was not going to participate in the Grand Prix as a result. Long story short it was a potentially life threatening situation for anyone running a Michelin shod car.
Michelin fessed up to this foul up and made no bones about the fact that they screwed up and that something had to be done for the safety of the drivers. They wanted to fly new tires in for all the teams on race day. Of course the F1 rules say you must use the same set of tires for qualifying and the race and cannot change the tires unless they are punctured or going flat. So then they tried to have an additional chicane put in to slow the cars on the super high speed turn and front straight. These requests were denied by the FIA. Max Mosely gave his denials from London where he received an official letter from Michelin stating the severity of the safety situation.
With no other solution available to them, ALL the Michelin cars completed the formation lap of the 2005 USGP and promptly parked their cars and boycotted the race rather than risk serious injury or even death running these faulty tires. This left the Bridgestone teams of Ferrari, Minardi and Jordan/Midland to compete in the race. Six cars folks. Six. And gee…I wonder who is going to win in a race with only those players involved?
Can you imagine if you were a fan who paid (on average) $100 per ticket to watch this race? What would you do? Make a lot of noise booing and hissing? Leave early? Maybe throw some bottles and cans onto the race track? The folks in Indy chose
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there is no winner, just losers: http://c-ccp.blogspot.com/2005/06/michelin-farce.html
i just left the indianapolis us grand prix and was greatly disapointed. i work all year long to come f1 racing with my family. i can not believe that i spent 3000.00 to see a ferrari test session. i am trying to decide if me and my family should ever come back. fire bernie….
josh
ive waited 10 hrs for you to make this thred!!!
i was/am very angery when i wrote this around 3pm est.
——————–
IMS NEEDS TO TAKE THE FIA TO COURT FOR TOTAL REPAYMENT OF ALL FEES FOR THE RACE AND REFUND OF ALL TICKETS SOLD FOR THE RACE AND PROMOTION OF THE RACE.
IT IS UP TO THE FIA TO DECIDE WEITHER TO PASS THESE FEES ON TO MICHELIN!
HEARING THAT BEARNIE LEFT THE TRACK WAY BEFORE THE END OF THE RACE WAS A CLASSLESS MOVE!
ALL THE GLAMOUR OF F1 IS FOREVER TAKEN AWAY BY TODAYS ACTIONS.
THE ONE GROUP LEFT OUT IN THE DARK ARE THE FANS THAT PAID HUNDEREDS OF DOLLARS TO ATTEND THE RACE AND THEN HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON.
TOM CARNEGIE ANOUNNCED TO THE FACES AT THE TRACK ON LAP 3 THAT THE RACE WAS NOT GOING TO BE A OFFICIAL RACE, THERE FOR MAKING THE FANS BELIEVE THEY WERE PAYING TO WATCH A TYRE TEST!
MICHELIN PUTTING THEIR TEAMS OUT FOR THE FORMATION LAP THEN PITTING THEM WITHOUT RUNNING A SINGLE LAP WAS A HUGE SLAP IN THE FACE OF THE FANS. IM SURE IT WAS DONE SO THE FANS COULDNT BOO THEM DURING THE PRE-RACE ACTIVITIES.
AS I PREDICTED YESTERDAY IN THIS THREAD THE POLE-CAR DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH FUEL TO RUN EVEN 3 LAPS OF PRACTICE TO TEST THE “CHICANE ANSWER”.
SO THE POLE WIN WAS A TOTAL JOKE AND A BLACK-EYE AGAINST TOYOTA IN HISTORY. IT ALSO SHOWED A PRE-KNOWLEDGE THAT MICHELIN WOULD NOT BE RUNNING TODAY!
THE FIA GAVE MICHELIN TEAMS SEVERAL CHOICES TO REMEDY THEIR TOTAL LACK OF PREPERATION FOR THE RACE. http://www.formula1.com/race/news/3197/740.html
FROM WHAT I GATHER THEY HAD THE CHOICE TO STOP ON LAP ONE AND PUT ON BRIDGESTONE!!! TYRES.
TAKE THE PENILTY AND AT LEAST GIVE THE FANS A RACE TO WATCH!
REMEMBER THAT IT IS THE FANS THAT MAKE GRAND PRIX RACING WHAT IT IS AND THE SHELFISNESS AND GREED OF THE POLITICAL ELEITE OF F1 THAT SPIT IN THE FACE OF THOSE SAME FANS. THAT BERNIE CALLED OUT IMS FOR NOT PROMOTING THE RACE ENOUGH THEN GIVING THE FACES THAT SHOWED UP A TOTAL JOKE OF A RACE THEN LEAVING EARLY HIMSELF IS A TESTEMENT TO HIS TOTAL DELUSSION OF HIS PLACE IN THE WORLD AT LARGE.
IN FACT I REMEMBER READDING THAT FOR THE 1ST USGP BERNIE STAYED IN A HOTEL IN CHACAGO BECAUSE ‘THERE WASNT ANY HOTELS IN INDY NICE ENOUGH FOR HIM’
I CAN SEE NO WAY F1 WILL BE WELCOME BACK IN INDY OR AMERICA AT LARGE AND SOMEDAY F1 MIGHT WAKE UP AND REALIZE THEY CUT OFF ALL RESPECT FROM THE LARGEST MARKET IN THE WORLD!
FANS IN AMERICA ARE NOT CAPTIVE AUDIANCES AS THE ARE IN OTHER COUNTRIES. THERE ARE MORE THAN 50 EVENTS EACH WEEK-END THAT AMERICANS HAVE THE CHOICE TO SPEND OUR MONEY ON. I FOR ONE WILL NEVER PUT ANOTHER CENT IN THE POCKET OF THE FIA FOM OR MICHELIN TYRE!
IT IS IRONIC THAT THE FRENCH FEED WAS CUT OFF 1/3 OF THE WAY INTO THE RACE SO THEY DIDNT GET TO SEE THE REACTION OF THE JOKE THEIR NATIONAL TYRE MANUFACTUER BROUGHT TO THEM. OR MAYBE IT WAS A MOVE TO HELP SELL OUT THE NEXT RACE IN TWO WEEKS THAT WILL BE HELD IN….FRANCE!
I’M MORE THAN UPSET AND DISGUSTED.
I FOR ONE WILL BE SPENDING MY MONEY AT THE CART RACE IN CLEVELAND NEXT WEEK-END!
and i never thought i would ever attend another cart race.
thats it- im buying a JEEP and taking up off road driving.
I agree that the ‘race’ eventually held was a disgrace to Formula 1, but I don’t understand why all the hatred is directed at the FIA. Michelin are a commercial sponsor with a responsibility to the sport and their teams. They got it wrong and their teams had a performance problem. Why should the track be changed - and disadvantage other teams whose sponsors got it right - and the drivers be given a changed track, just because Michelin screwed up? If it was one team and they had a mechanical fault, they would be expected to bear the drop in performance and race as best they could. This smacks of the teams using blackmail because there are so many of them - why couldn’t they race and slow down on the turns? Why couldn’t they use the extra pit stop to change tires, as the FIA offered, and suffer the compromised performance? This sport has huge funding and technology behind it, and all the players should be capable of staying within the rules like any professional sportsmen. They should not be demanding that the track be changed because of their own failure to have their vehicles ready. That’s like asking Wimbledon to change the grass because the racquets have a design fault and can’t take the ball speed on grass. The bottom line is, Michelin got it wrong and the cars weren’t ready and the teams were not prepared to accept the drop in performance by slowing down themselves on the track or using the extra pit stop. The FIA have rules and they stuck by them, and so they should - sheer numbers should not allow teams to force rule changes to suit themselves, particularly when it would disadvantage those teams who actually did their job, and got it right. Put the blame where it should be: Michelin is a multi-million dollar company who let everyone down by not getting their preparation right, and this lies at their door.
elsie dee got it totally right! chicane or no chicane, turn 13 wasn’t the issue. it was the newly surfaced track that was too rough on the tyres. turn 13 was a ’scapegoat’ for michelin to make it a complete farce, just to cover their mistake. fia cannot back down from these uncalled-for threats and they did the reasonable thing.
josh
to your post.
asking bridestone to allow the placement of a CHICANE in turn 13 is insane. if you were bridgestone what would your answer be?
sure lets change the track(therefor taking out the most impressive 2 parts of the race.see below)and make this a non-points race since michelin screwed up?
{1 sitting in the straight and the sound and sight of those cars at full song coming out of turn 13 at incredible speed, and 2 the experaince of watching and more exciting listening to the cars do the impossible as they stop those cars to make turn one! ive been track sdie for both and its like nothing else in motorsport!!! if the sound of the cars engine braking for turn one doesnt send chills trough your body then you are not a race fan.}
as for where the blame goes..
in my eyes.
IMS and tony george 0%- he tried everything he could to make it a awsome show
bridgestone 0%- they did what any company in COMPITITON would do
FIA - FOM 5%- they gave michelin more than enough ways out of the disaster that the race became. the 5% is for bernies attitude then leaving the race early. the captian is suppose to go down with the ship!!
michelin 95%- they screwed up. end of story. then they tried to spin it to look like everyone else was the bad guys. classless move boys!
the 2 standouts of the weekend were
1 micheal- he did everything form the pit lane walk-about to the podium and post race press conferance with class and dignity!
2 DC- listening to him on the scanner during the formation lap say ‘ if its up to me, we race. but ill do what the team thinks is best’ showed the heart of a lion and the brain of a smart man!! well done DC
the thorn in my side is old ralphie. he walked away from the crash(due in no small part to the IMS safty upgrades) then they said he had a piece of carbon fibre in his eye. when asked point blank about this twice during a interview on speed tv he said “NO!”
so whats the truth?
the only 2 cars that had a tyre problem the WHOLE WEEKEND were the 2 toyotas and only 1 of them was in turn 13!!
bridgestone had a tyre capable of running 100 laps at the track…whos fault is it that michelin couldnt develope a tire that could last 10 laps?
sadly, it looks like its the fans fault.
elsie dee has the right idea.
cccp. it cant be put onto IMS at all. wear wasnt the problem at all. it was the increased grip from the track that caused their poorly designed tyres to suffer a failur in the SIDEWALL due to lateral load increases not the tread.
does no one at Michelin have a TV or read a newspaper?
the tire test problem for the indy car teams and nextel cup teams did make it into a few newspapers.
the spped guys knew about it.. hell i even knew about it!
so why didnt a light go on and make them think…maybe we should error on the side of safety!
its been history in all racing that having more than one tire manufacture is a dangerious thing. they push the limit of the tires in the name of speed(ie advertising money) over safty and the ones who pay are the drivers. often with their lives!
Working in Europe you hear a lot of the stories about how great F1 is. Well after this American GP, the FIA has no idea what racing means in America. Racing is a truly American sport. It’s not about the money. It’s the adrenaline rush. Man against machine. But to Bernie, its how much he can stuff in his pockets before he retires or gets thrown out. Maybe Michelin came with the wrong tire, but I congratulate them for standing up in what they believe. They did the right thing by saying we goofed up and it is NOT SAFE to run the tires. I don’t want to see a driver injured or a car totaled just so Bernie and the FIA can make money. FIA refused to let them ship over a different tire for race day after they found out they had goofed. It’s hard to believe that grown men in such a position cannot compromise on an issue. Of course only the fans lose out by paying allot of money for a Ferrari test session. But of course the FIA has their nose up in the air. How can they consider Formula 1 as being racing compared to NASCAR, Cart, SCCA and USAC. They need to get off their high horse and come up with some good racing.
to further elsie dee comments.. let’s not forget Spain where Bridgestone suffered the exact same problem: a loss of tyre pressure where if you remember blew up on Schumi’s car. He then limped into the pits KNOWING he was about to go back out with dangerous tyres on board, but did it anyway, and then he lost pressure on another tyre and as a result was forced to retire.
Bridgestone and Ferrari knew of this issues all weekend and “a chicane” surely would have helped them that weekend, but instead if whining about it, they simply dealt with it as any proper competitor should have.
But, today the Michellin teams did the opposite.
For Ferrari and Bridgestone in Spain it was tuff luck. They move on without sulking and that is what Michellin and the Michellin shod teams should have done today.
I say the blame should be shared 50/50 between Michellin and the Michellin teams who had other options.
Damn Josh this thread brought out more than a few with anger, which is understandable, but it also allowed some to opine through that anger and post nonsensical (or ill informed) rants.
Example from “vipers” above:
” it cant be put onto IMUS at all. wear wasnt the problem at all. it was the increased grip from the track that caused their poorly designed tyres to suffer a failure in the SIDEWALL due to lateral load increases not the tread.”
You are aware IMS ground the track prior to this race aren’t you? That did produce an increase in grip and lateral load. Think not do a Google search on the recent NASCAR events at Lowe’s where they also did a diamond grind of the track. Having said that I also place no blame on IMS.
This one is the best of all, from elie dee:
“Michelin are a commercial sponsor with a responsibility to the sport and their teams. They got it wrong and their teams had a performance problem. Why should the track be changed - and disadvantage other teams whose sponsors got it right - and the drivers be given a changed track, just because Michelin screwed up?”
Why should the track be changed? How about to give 130,000 fans in the stands and 100’s of millions world wide a race vice an over priced practice session. Isn’t that a good enough reason? And someone please explain to me how using a chicane, that all the drivers would drive through, would become a disadvantage for some and not others.
Not that I vented myself over a bit of nonsense, here is where I place blame.
Michelin first and foremost. BUT, to their credit they recognized the problem and offered suggestions to remedy it.
Secondly and where most of the blame lays, Bernie and the FIA. The FIA had an option, provide the “race” they did or place a chicane just after turn 13.
If it’s true, as someone up thread stated, Michelin agreed to allow it contracted drivers to switch to Bridgstones it may have been an option. Although because of the very sensitive nature of the F1 chassis it may not have been a viable one. Michelin offered every possible remedy, the FIA in their usual bullheaded fashion blew them out of the water with an “its the rules stupid” defense.
That doesn’t fly when you consider the FIA threw the rulebook in the shitcan when they suspended a team from competition for two events. Michelin had problems but solutions were on the table the FIA and Bernie said to hell with them.
All they had to do was ease off the throttle to a rev limit in turn 13 if they didn’t bring equipment good enough. BUT NOOOO!!!! They all team up, blame the track, Ferrari and the FIA for not giving them a “gift”. If you ask me it is the Teams that are at fault. They are responsible for putting the cars on the track - not Michilin. The fact that the teamed up to do this to the fans and the sport means that they should be sued for colusion or something like that. I only wish I was a Motorsports lawyer - they are going to be living high on the hog this year.
http://www.vipers-pit.net: don’t get me wrong, i’m not putting it on ims. they have every right to resurface the track. i think i made my point very clear, it is the michelin who didn’t do their homework. y is it that bridgestone can come up with durable tyres but michelin can’t? no excuse
As pointed out elsewhere on the net, Bridgestone had access to the tire wear results from the Indy 500 from subsidairy company Firestone. The cars at the Indy 500 consistently run flat out around the same corners at 200+ mph all race long. It is inconceivable that they did not share information.
Which also explain why the Michelin’s were consistently quicker; they traded durability for grip. And it’s not like it was Michelin’s first experience with the track, they’ve been there before even without the new track surface.
I just hope Michelin has the corporate moxy to investigate the cause of the failures and publiish the results to the racing world. It’s the least they can do now.
marc
was the problem at lowes in the tread or the sidewall of the tires? i beleave it was the tread due to a more abrasive track surface.
here we have a problem with the sidewall due to lateral loads. if michelin built the tires in such away that more lateral load would cause the tire to fail then they chose speed over safty.
to even ask to put a chicane in was a joke.
that is a major change to the track and it would hinder the advantage the teams that were properly preparaied to run the track had.
“Michelin offered every possible remedy”
this is not true at all. they offered one option that would benefit themselves and their teams points lead and said if you dont do as we say we are taking our tires and going home.
any change to the layout of the track would have made it a non points event! thereby protecting the michelin teams points lead dispite their lack of being ready to race.
so you set a president that any team that shows up with a ill prepared car can call it a safty issue and demand the race become a non points event to their own liking?
the ones that gave all the options was the fia.
they presented the teams with several options that would allow the cars to run for the fans, but michelin(not the teams) said no
the blame isnt on the teams. michelin said we will not allow you to run the tires in the race. at that point it was out of the teams hands.
michelins slap in the face of all race fans
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=24900
place all blame on ferrari and the FIA
“FIA refused to let them ship over a different tire for race day after they found out they had goofed.” and “How can they consider Formula 1 as being racing compared to NASCAR, Cart, SCCA and USAC.” - You’re right, we should go back and see how many times SCCA changed the course after qualifying and when NASCAR let somebody slide on a restrictor plate issue. Maybe racing fans should only go to IROC races? Or better yet, you guys could go down the local outdoor amusement “kart” track for a little rubbin’.
I suggested right after the race that the Speedway, go to a judge and try to get an injunction (probably a restraining order) to hold all the equipment, cars and aircraft that FIA, Bernie, and the teams had at the Speedway until a decision could be made how much the economic loss really is.
Blame? Bernie acting as F1, FIA (Mosley), the teams all share a part.
Who were hurt? Fans, The Speedway, Advertisers, and racing.
What to do now? Perhaps this will drive the manufactuers (except Ferrari which has rejoined Bernie already), will form a new sanctioning body. Let Bernie and his F1 die.
Bernie showed his true colors when he degraded women, by his stupid reply when asked about possible women in F1.
Now if we could just get CCWS and the IRL together, we could have the INDY 500 and “THE AMERICAN GRAND PRIX”, both at the Speedway.
rubbin’ isnt racing
nascar is bumper cars at 170mph
racing is drivers winning races based on skill. not drafting partners and/or how many cars you can “bump” into the wall
CCWS is a huge mistake
did we not learn anything from the indycar-cart split?
both will lose.
Now if we could just get CCWS and the IRL together, we could have the INDY 500 and “THE AMERICAN GRAND PRIX”, both at the Speedway.
im confussed? do you want IRL and CCWS to merge of have 2 seperate races at the speedway?
there are already both races at the speedway(or at least there was)
i can see no way CCWS and the IRL can join.
To Confused,
Yep, one race on the oval and one on the road course. Hence the names INDY 500 and THE AMERICAN GRAND PRIX.
And then tell that coward who left 14 laps before the mess we called the USGP, can go kiss the butts of some rich sheik and stay the heck out of America.
“And someone please explain to me how using a chicane, that all the drivers would drive through, would become a disadvantage for some and not others.”
I’ll explain it. Three Bridgestone-shod teams sacrificed their best-handling tires to bring durable tires to deal with the high loads in turn 13.
Michelin brought only high grip tires and no back-ups. Adding a chicane would negate the need for the high-load tires, and as a result, the three Bridgestone teams would be running the wrong compund for the re-configured track.
As a result, all Michelin-shod teams would have had FAR superior grip. Should the FIA have allowed this?
In fact, it’s good policy that the one who screws up accommodates the ones who did it right. Instead, Michelin tried to dictate that a chicane (highly advantageous to them) was the only appropriate solution.
In fact, the easiest solution is for Michelin to calculate the right speeds in turn 13 to reduce the loads to an acceptable level, so the teams can calculate the appropriate rpm to run through that corner safely. They can race the hell out of their tires in the other 12 corners, but Michelin’s mistake didn’t make the tires unsafe — Michelin’s mistake meant that they had to run slower and conserve their tires through turn 13. Tire conservation is a common practice in auto racing, and Michelin refused, preferring to blame everybody else.
They knew the rules, but clearly tried to blackmail the FIA into giving them an advantage.
Mind you, I was cheering for McLaren, not Ferrari, and I really don’t like the FIA or Ecclestone. But the writing is plainly on the wall, and Michelin and the seven teams appear very much to have attempted a pre-meditated power play, possibly to break Ferrari’s dominance at that track.
It was a disgrace, and I really want my money back.
RE: VIPERS-PIT ” the blame isnt on the teams. michelin said we will not allow you to run the tires in the race. at that point it was out of the teams hands.”
Michelin never said they would not allow the teams to run the tires in the race, the stated that they could not guarantee the safety of those tires. The TEAMS made the decision not to race based on that information from Michelin. IF you haven’t already, you can go to http://www.FIA.com and read all of the correspondence between Michelin and the FIA….It’s all right there in black and white.
Furthermore, There are a lot of directions to point fingers here, and I think in this paticular instance the 7 teams and Michelin should split the blame.
But overall Bernie and MAX are the main underlying reason this all came to be…for having their heads so far up their asses and failing to realize the effect their actions have had on the sport.
Sure, Michelin still dropped the ball and brought the wrong tires to the race, but the 7 teams did what they did partially in defiance (actually 9 teams because Minardi & Jordan had agreed to boycot as well in an effort to strong arm the FIA to do something to rectify the situation and put on a 20 car race, but they both decided to race at the last moment. Had they not, there would have only been 2 Ferraris on track for the start, and most likely they would have been forced to postpone the start and find a resolution to get all 20 back out).
Anyway, thats my feelings on the whole thing…hold Michelin & The 7 teams responsible for what happened last sunday, but Bernie & Max, get the hell out of this sport and relinquish your duties to somone who actually gives a shit about the sport and the fans….then we will see some REAL racing without all the political bullshit.
Who Knew What And When?
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=3515431&nav=9TahbP6y