Note to Bernie Ecclestone: buy Hoosiers

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Last time I ever buy any Michelins for my 911. So this supplier to the highest-tech motorsport in the known universe can't make useful tires for pantywaist little F1 cars to make it around just one of four banked turns at Indy? They shoulda gone down to any big tire store in Indianapolis and bought a bunch of Hoosiers or Goodyears. Those things run all afternoon at 200 mph at Daytona or Talledega on monstermobiles that weight three times what Bernie's scooters weigh.

Stephan

[Elombard]

I was not a michelin guy before. I wont even consider them now.

[724doorE]

Guys, you gott ta lay some blame to Bernie and his teams for how this was handled. They could have postponed the race but didn't want to take the TV hit

[molsen]

Michelin knew what they faced from the previous reces, THEY screwed up. They knew the rules. They knew the playing field. They made a poor effort.
I suppose you could blame the fia for a rule change obviously geared to stop one team. It is the responsibility of those competing to provide a car capable of the task at hand. This is racing & not an opera...correct?

O.K. maybe it IS an opera...but the score needs work.

[82SC]

poorly handled.

should have let the race start...allow cars to pit for new tires...no fueling during tire stops

that would have solved the issue and I believe that is one of the things Whiting offered but Michelin and the otehr teams insisted on the ridiculous chicane idea to give their teams a chance to win a rigged race...

MJ

[robfike]

I will never buy a Michelin product again. They have ruined what could have been one of the best races ever. I also think Bernie should be run out of F-1. The teams should take over like CART did when USAC got too stupid to put on a race. With the coments he made this week he is clearly out of touch with the rest of the human race!

[724doorE]

Well what do you expect, Bernie is the most brilliant ********* there is, he gets tracks to pay him to hold his race, he gets teams to pay him to be in his series, and he gets tv to pay him to broadcast his race. The guy is the slickest ***** ever, but hes a big a$$ hole for sure. The FIA, well, they screwed the pooch as well, the moneys on the spot that they didn't like Indy anyway and have been wanting to go elsewhere. This just made it easy!

FUCH them!

[82SC]

hmmm maybe I missed an interview or something.

but I was under the impression that is was the FIA that banned any changed to the race format...not bernie.

I think bernie is such an astute businessman, he knows this is terrible for his sport, for the push of F1 in the US, the rift between him and the teams, his relationship with IMS etc...i think he was on the chicane or let the show go on side of the line...

I personally don't like him because he doesn't run F1 like a person who is passionate...but runs it like a business man (which may be an necessity in this new modern global economy....)

but I think this may fall on the shoulders of the FIA and Mosley when the dust clears

MJ

[Denis54]

I am a big F1 fan. I have followed F1 very closely for the last 30+ years. I have attended dozens of races in Canada, the US and Europe. What happened today is totally unacceptable and I blame Ferrari and the FIA for it.

Michelin made a mistake. They acknowledged it and proposed alternatives to save the show. In essence, they suggested that a chicane be built and that all Michelin equipped cars mark no points. Michelin and its teams just wanted to save the show. This should have been a perfectly acceptable compromise.

All teams but Ferrari accepted Michelin's proposals. Jean Todt was even arrogant enough to smile on the starting grid and after the race. They just want to win at any cost and do not have the slightest respect for spectators.

The FIA was no better. The made 2 proposals that were totally ridiculous. The first one was for Michelin equipped cars to just drive slower and the second one was for Michelin cars to change tires as often as necessary. This would have meant something like 7 tires changes as Michelin said their tires are only safe for 10 laps. As Ferrari, They too are incredibly arrogant and live in a world of their own.

I sure hope Tony George kicks them out of Indy. Today’s race was the biggest racing farce I ever saw.

[stealthn]

Come on, you have to blame the FIA, it's a stupid rule that is trying to slow down the speeds. how about bigger restricter plates, more chicanes, but tires? The tires haven't slowed the speeds down at all. I don't blame anyone running the bridgestones, I just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring my car here, and get it setup for the track, and now you want me to run it for no points? No.
The biggest idiots were the fans throwing stuff on the course, I know you're made\ but throwing something infront of one of the six people on the track racing at 200+ MPH is unreal.

I felt totally ripped off, it WAS going to be a good race. MS should have be black flagged for almost hitting Rubens, but the FIA officials were too busy running away so they wouldn't get lynched.

Stupid rules is the real issue. IMO

[Porschekid962]

Why is it so easy to blame Bernie and Ferrari? Is that not what everyone has done for the past 6 years? Michelin made a gross miscalculation and because of that they paid the price. Imagine the Porsche factory going to the ACO during the Le Mans weekend lets say in 1976 and saying they need to add some chicanes down the Mulsanne because the tires they have are dangerous at high speed. As far as someone saying this was going to be the best race of the year I highly doubt that seeing as the track itself is a joke.

Michelin screwed up and the folks in the stands were stuck with it. F1 will go on no doubt about that seeing as they are the second largest TV attraction in the world. Is it not called the circus? So go ahead and blame Bernie, MOSLEY IS THE PROBLEM! Blame Ferrari all you want, I know they have really been a thorn in the championship this year gimme a break. When McLaren was dominant and before them Williams, before them Bennetton then before that the uber McLarens. Was anyone blaming Ferrari for the "poor" state of F1 then?

I have read and heard people push the blame onto Ferrari for ages. Why do I like Ferrari, simple MS drives for them. I have been watching him race since I was a little kid laying on the living room floor in my sleeping bag at 4:30am in his first season at Benetton.

To be honest, Indy sucked as a race when it started and it sucked today when it looked like it might be the last time the circus travels there. Go back to Laguna Seca, go back to Long Beach. I wish they would go back to Watkins Glen but that wont happen in a hundred years. Heck lets reopen Zandvoort while were at it...

[brittbolen]

Michelins won Le Mans today.

The whole USGP thing was a joke, really sad for the fans. Michelin brought bad tires, FIA refused to save the race and in the end the fans got the bum deal.

Britt

[pwd72s]

Northwest Native Greg Biffle won today... Screw F-1, I can live without 'em....today's F-1 drivers aren't qualified to wash Mario Andretti's or Phil Hill's shorts.

[ScottKelly911]

I don't know the whole story, was there a rule change that made Michelin have to change their tires and rush the R & D making them unsafe? If that is what happened, then I blame FIA. Honestly, FIA has made so many bad calls that are politically driven that it wouldn't surprise me. If Michelin just didn't have good tires, then I blame them and would urge their teams to search out new tire sponsorship. Ferrari? No way do I blame them, the tires they were on performed fine, why should they vote to change the race because someone else couldn't compete? Should Shaq not be allowed to dunk because he's taller than almost everyone else? No matter who's to blame, the fans are definitely the one's who got shafted. I'd be pissed if I came to see a race and only 6 cars competed. While I don't condone throwing debris onto a track where cars are hitting near the double century mark, I can understand their anger, they should have all just left through the turnstyles and demanded their money back at the front gates.

[jyl]

I don't blame Ferrari for refusing to agree to a chicane. They and Bridgestone have been struggling with the tires all season, they finally arrive at a race with the better tires, and they are asked to agree to a track change that would reduce their advantage. Even if the Michelin teams would have forfeited points, Ferrari's goal is still to win. And of course more Michelin-shod cars on the track would have meant more risk of an incident that would take out one of the Ferraris (in fact, such an incident would be in the interests of one of the leading Michelin teams if you get my drift). So don't expect Ferrari, or any other team, to sacrifice for the greater good.

The organization that was in a position to look out for the greater good was the FIA. The FIA Race Director should have put his foot down and decided on changes that would have allowed the race to proceed. The race could have gone forward with a chicane and point penalties to the Michelin teams, or without a chicane and tire-changing by the Michelin teams. The Race Director has made last-minute changes to a race before, not as unusual as this admittedly but one must rise to the occasion.

[82SC]

Yeah I don't think blaming ferrari is fair...it was a much bigger problem even before ferrari had anything to say.

a chicane was not the answer...imagine if ferrari was racing with "non-point" takers and one of them punted them off the course...

the only possible situation was to have them change tires as necessary racing for points that would preserve the competition which is the show not 20 teams doing 73 laps...a no points parade is silly from a fans point of view as well as the Michelin teams...paying thousands of dollars a mile for nothing is not a viable situation

just sad to see F1 NEVER make the front page of ESPN or get mentioned on sports center and now this...and for a US fan that has little knowledge of F1 it looks like a retarded circus...hard to explain all the details of what really went down...but for millions this is their impression of F1

FIA not only dropped the ball today, but with the silly one tire a race rule...forcing teams to use probably the most important and most stressed part of the car for the full distance makes teams and drivers have to weigh safety in all their decisions is just asking for someone to get hurt

look at kimis tire explosion...he was cm's off buton's car during his spin and that could have been bad...they had to weigh between a podium finish vs risking it.

at least when an engine expires...rarely does anyone get hurt...obviously kimi was within regulation to change tires, but why put a driver in that poistion...

i'd rathe see tire changes and no refueling...refueling makes race strategy more important then driver performance...make them pass on the track!!!...plus it only makes the race faster and faster towards the end...

some of the proposed regulation changes do look promising...
we'll see what happens in the weeks to come

MJ

[Porschekid962]

its tough to compete in america where speed channel's programming consists of nascar, nascar, some more nascar, some build a bike show, more nascar, then a little f1 or sportscars or wrc which is now only sunday nights then more nascar. why is nascar on between the 24 hours and the f1 race? then they replay races from months ago or debate about this guy who has 2340598723049587 points versus the guy with 765490845098 points. ahhhh i hate nascar but i have to admit they have done a wonderful job selling themselves to the lowest common denominator.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Because Nascar is hugely entertaining. It's theater, understandable to ordinary fans who can see the entire race right in front of them, they don't need a computer program to tell who's in what position, if things get out of hand the management throws a debris-on-the-track flag and tighten up the field again (okay, so it's not fair, but this is entertainment, not foreign policy). Because there are rivalries, drivers who help each other and drivers who hate each other, and because the lowest-ranking Cup driver is a more interesting on-camera personality than both Schumachers together.

You disagree? I offer as proof that I'm right the current dimensions of the sport, and the current growth rate.

I'm not a Nascar fan, but I get prettty close to ths sport as a contributing writer for Time Warner's new Race Fan magazine, which you probably haven't seen yet--just two issues have been published--but take a look if you do see it on a newsstand.

There are times when I don't mind being part of "the lowest common denominator." (What a contemptuous, self-absorbed remark...)

Stephan

[lateapex911]

Blame Ferrari!??? Are you on drugs???

You are a team, that spends hundreds of millions of dollars, and when you do your homework, and the other team doesn't, then wants to change the playing field, what would you say? I'd say, "Deal with it"!

Some misconceptions:
1- The M teams could have raced- they could have easily stopped for tires, the regs allow that, but no refueling on that stop. They chose not to do that....as it was a performance disadvantage.

2- the M teams could have raced within the limits of their equipment...isn't that what racing is all about????? If a driver brakes too deep for a corner, and crashes, does he say, "The other guys can do it, and if I can't, so I am not going to race"? No, he brakes where he has to, and goes back and does his homework to try to equailize his equipment.

3- There was NO last minute change in anything (rules or track) that put Michelin on the spot. They flat didn't test properly, and came unprepared. The rules even allow them a second construction option but theirs wsa inadequate. Anyone who blames the track merely has to note that the other company figured out how to build a tire that did the job.


That said, the teams COULD have dealt with it, but they were put into a spot by Michelin with the "letter" that was clearly written by lawyers, and lawyers ruled the day.

As much as the FIA can be real boneheads, they were really not the villians today, it was the Michelein company and their teams.

[trj911]

I hope Micheline somehow has to pay for their mistake of not doing their homework and bringing the right tires to race with.