Goodbye F1
What can I say. I am stunned, what have they done. A chicane would have worked but Ferrari blocked it (so I here)
More (lots More) reaction inthe show, send us your comments
update:looks like the FIA are to blame for blocking the chicane idea
Another update, have your say in what should have happened here
June 20th, 2005 at 6:29 am
This is a sad day for all the fans/supporters of Formula 1, especially those who follow it in the US! I especially feel sorry for those who came out to watch it live too - they got cheated out of their hard-earn money, that’s for sure! Bernie should issue refunds ‘coz this DEFINITELY isn’t what they came to see!
I also feel sorry for the hardworking people from each of the 7 teams because they have worked tirelessly to produce a car week after week! Now thier efforts, at least for the US GP, have amount to nothing! Since I am also a BIG JARNO FAN (and Toyota fan as well), I can’t help but feel sorry for him and whole team because they had a legitimate chance of winning the US GP despite thier problems at the start of the weekend! Jarno’s qualifying lap was ABSOLUTELY SUPERB yesterday and judging by thier past results at indy (barring the tyre problems of course), thier car was most suited to this track as they have a good chassis and an excellent engine for the long straights! Such a BIG SHAME that they had to pull out!!!!
In terms of PR and marketing (for formula 1) too, let’s just say that we are the laughingstock of the whole indianapolis and motorsport in general! This unfortunate incident could not have come at the worst time - when F1 is already struggling to get the US market hooked on the sport! For sure, the repurcussions are already being felt in the paddock and organizers will certainly think twice before hosting another grand prix at indy again!
Who is to blame? I’m not too sure! I feel EXTREMELY frustrated because I don’t know who to point the finger at! I’m angry at michelin for not finding an answer to the tyre problem, I’m angry at the FIA, bernie and all the teams for not reaching a compromise in the 11th hour for the sake of the sport!
The 14 drivers probably did the right thing though by following the advice of michelin to stay out of the race but because of that, we got robbed of a fantastic race - wherein more than 1 team could have fought for the win - and instead, my favoritie sport turned into 72 laps of pure B(ull)S(hit)!
This 6 cars US GP is the most PATHETIC thing I’ve ever seen! I’m so humiliated for us! The only people who are probably benefitting from this is ferrari who would be tied for 2nd in the constructors after the race and thier drivers who will be 3rd (michael) and 4th (barri) and the same goes for jordan and minardi! The only team I’m happy for is minardi to be honest because the money that they will be getting out of this “superb” result will definitely help them out in the future!
I can’t take anymore of this ferrari 1-2, joradn 3-4 and minardi 5-6 procession, I’m switching off my live timing screen and hitting the sack! And to think, I stayed up to watch (thru the net) what I thought could have been one of the most amazing racs of the season! We all got screwed! Bring on Wimbledon, I say! That would certainly be more interesting than this dismal race!
Eileen from the Philippines
p.s. just in case you were wondering, my cable has no f1 coverage so I have to rely on the f1 site and the time difference between here and the US is huge so, when the race started, it was already 2 am in the morning - June 20 - here in my country! I know, I must have looked like a wreck at 2am in the morning and you’re right AND after this shananigans, I’m afraid I might never recover!
p.s.s. Last word from me, promise - I wanted to say that I love your show by the way, keep up the good work u guys! I have a suggestion though to make the show a little livelier, invite more guests next time!:D Cheers!
June 20th, 2005 at 7:06 am
I agree with you. Looks like the FIA Killed F1 .
More guest would be great getting them on is not easy
Cheers
Ian
June 20th, 2005 at 8:06 am
What an unbelievable race, this will definitely have repercussions for F1 in the US and also for F1 as a sport. Tis a sad day for Formula 1.
June 20th, 2005 at 8:08 am
I never thought it would happen. I just assumed they wouldn’t shoot themselves in their foot.
June 20th, 2005 at 2:04 pm
I fell asleep so I totally missed it so would be great to hear your upcoming show just to really find out what happen.
June 20th, 2005 at 3:23 pm
I just got home from work and sat down to enjoy the taped race at Indy
It was broadcast at 3.30am and I generally avoid all news sources and Internet Forums until after seeing the tape
“Gobsmacked” doesn’t come close! God what a shambles, there is nothing I can add to whatever has been said here and elsewhere, except: “What were the FIA thinking?!”
their intransigent attitude only served to make a bad situation worse
They are the self-appointed leaders of the sport and all they can do is resort to petty bitchiness and duck shoving and Im sure they used the situation to deliver a slap to the “rebel” teams/manufacturers (”see who’s in charge”).
Still, on a more positive note I’m sure everyone will show-up in France and carry-on as if nothing has happened……(”paper over the cracks and smile for the cameras boys”)
one thing is sure, I’ll be watching it, as I have done since 1980, I can’t help it really
Fred
Tasmania
June 20th, 2005 at 3:51 pm
Ferrari shows its true colors at US grand prix. None of the F-1 fans are happy about it. If Ferrari’s intentions are just to win then, they need to race in their own backyard and not at Grand Prix. Ferrari Sux ! Ferraru has got the sport to shame !
June 20th, 2005 at 10:09 pm
Himanshu Rao, needs to grow up, and that goes for anyone else who starts pointing the finger at Ferrari. For once this team did nothing wrong, and yet it’s starting to get slammed for sticking to the rules and providing the effort and entertainment that it’s contractually committed to.
Lets turn this whole thing round. re-wind the weekend.
Friday afternoon: Bridgestone announce that Ferrari cannot race along with Jordan and Minardi because of technical issues that effect safety.
After a seven year reign can you really see any other constructor coming to their aid and suggesting that all the other teams take a corner slower or perhaps put in a chicane. Can you see Ferrari asking for one. NO! and NO!
I think it’s terrible that this race ended like this. I think Ferrari are as ashamed of the win as everyone else. But to criticize them for doing their job is not seeing the big picture and a little immature, and naive.
There should have been a solution and it should have been for the good of the sport, and the entertainment of the crowd. F1 fans are a particularly dedicated bunch, saving for months to get to the next available race, traveling around the globe. These people were robbed.
These teams could have raced!!!
My heart also goes out to the team members and the drivers. They are a dedicated bunch, leaving family behind the best part of a year and striving to gain crucial performance at high personal cost.
I know the drivers would have wanted to race, we even heard David Coulthard say this on the parade lap, over the team radio. (ITV UK).
So before you point the finger of blame at Ferrari (for reasons that I fail to understand) open your mind a little. Break out of old habits and try and see the bigger picture. Here there is politics, business, entertainment and life threatening danger all in one package.
Maybe it’s time safe entertainment was added back into the sport and the businessmen realized that without this they have nothing - Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen!
June 21st, 2005 at 1:44 am
Himanshu Rao - you definately don’t understand F1 and need to understand the rules and the spirit of F1 racing before you make ridiculous statements like the one above.
It’s obvious you are a Ferrari basher and have absolutely no clue about what really happened.
There is absolutely no international press coverage that has blamed Ferrari for what happened on Sunday. If you want to blame anyone, blame Michelin(MOST DEFINATELY), the FIA (for having made the stupid tyre rule in the first place) and all the teams that chickened out under the guise of ’safety’. They could have raced albeit at speeds that would have conserved tyre wear. The dumb tyre rules were introduced to slow down the race in the first place.
June 21st, 2005 at 7:14 am
I’m in the camp here who’s fully blaming the FIA for this disaster. Ok, Michelin made a bad set of tyres, they admitted that and offered a solution…but the FIA and its rule books wouldn’t allow that. Then they go blow the idea of a chicane (the only really sensible solution too the problem) out the water, which would of given a great race for everyone.
Ok, fine the chicane would of slowed the Bridgestone runners too, but what would they care since only they would of been in the points anyhow (from the interview with Frank Williams about all the Michelin runners agreeing to forego any championship points if the chicane was put in place). But we would of got a race atleast and not this disaster.
The Michelin runners couldn’t of run anyhow, to do so and if anyone got injured would of been corporate negligence, and in the capital of lawsuits (the USA) its something that no company would want to do…and rightfully for safety they didn’t do.
The idea of “slowing” down the Michelin runners is also laughable. Can you imagine Kimi slowing down 20-30mph around there since thats what they we’re supposed to do, and the guys behind him following suit? cause they wouldnt, they would come in fast to gain the gap. It would never of worked. The chincane was the only feasible, and sensible solution.
The stupidity and corruption of the FIA is shown once more. My only hope this is the final deathnail of the FIA and the constructors finally get thier own championship away from the bent rules and interferance of the FIA and its corrupt officials. Reading the statement of the FIA blaming all the teams and calling them in for disciplinary discussions is yet another joke.
June 21st, 2005 at 7:54 am
So what your saying Allan, is because there’s going to be a break away racing formula this would have all been different.
If this Constructors Formula (I’ll call it CF for short) had had the same problem, that things would have been handled differently.
Cars created specially for a banked hard cornering surface at high speed, could be turned into cars that took chicanes at medium speed, and that the shock settings, and tyre pressures, and fuel usage, and tyre wear, and tyre pressures, ride heights could all have been changed minutes or even hours before a race to make it all as safe as it should, could, would have been.
This sounds like a great CF. you can turn up any weekend with faulty and substandard equipment, and if it’s not to your liking you change the rules. The rules that have been agreed to, and signed up to, by all your competitors at the start of a season. Rules you really liked once but now that your engines coughing a little you get everyone to run at a lower maximum rev, or maybe the drivers got a bad headache so we’re only going to do 30 laps instead of 80.
Rules are there for a reason. Everyone signed up to these, and until now the only teams that have suffered from these rules until now are the teams that happened to benefit this weekend.
If the FIA had changed the rules then they would have been held liable for any injury, damages, deaths caused as a result.
The FIA don’t just turn up at a track and say yeah lets race. They inspect, advise, survey and plan a race years in advance. Who’s to say what a chicane at that particular place on a track would have done to cars not made for those tolerances and stresses at that particular moment.
To have the teams blame the FIA is ridiculous, they are just shifting blame, laying a smoke screen.
The facts are simple:
A tyre manufacturer turn up to a race with substandard equipment that meant it could not give the teams it supplies the permission they needed to race.
That is it, black and white, clear as day.
Now please tell me, who’s fault is it?
June 21st, 2005 at 9:42 pm
Ultimately, Michelin were to blame for not supplying suitable tyres for the cars, but of course, the whole farce falls into the hands of the FIA. They simply should not have allowed just 6 cars to parade.
It is certainaly a case of Rock and a hard place, as you can’t penalise the Bridgestone runners by introducing a chicane, and also run the risk of a non-championship points scoring Michelin taking out a definate championship points scoring Bridgestone. However, you also cannot take the risk that a tyre will blow with horrific consequences. 11 years since that black weekend in Imola, and we cannot risk that kind of thing happening again. We still had a stark reminder in Australia a few years ago when the Marshall was killed by tyre debris - there is still the safety of the crowd/staff to think of.
The losers were ultimately the fans (again) and I can understand the anger that was voiced by those who had paid $80 a ticket, but one suggestion that was never mentioned that would have still provided value for money:
Why didn’t they simply run two races? Run the championship GP as normal, and endure 72 parade laps, but then add the temporary chicane and hold a non-championship exhibition race… this way the Bridgestone runners would not be compromised, but there would still be an entertainment race to give the fans value for money.
Of course, there is the risk of something happening in the non-championship race, but it was one that the drivers (such as DC) accepted.
It is sad that in the end the politics of the ’sport’ got in the way. As was said in the ITV commentary, it is incredible that the combined minds of some of the worlds most intelligent people could not find a rational solution.
Ironically, we might have seen a Jordan 1-2 if Rubens had not seen Shoe’s dangerous pit exit.
June 23rd, 2005 at 10:44 am
James, I think your trying to say it was unavoidable. Personally I believe it was completely avoidable. Yes, Michelin screwed up big style. They admitted it themselves. Yet on the Saturday Bernie, the teams (ok except one), the Indy bosses, and Michelin all agreed that a chicane should of been built. Mosley vetoed it. Even now in the interviews the only side seeing any possible legal problem is the FIA, and the teams said no one mentioned any legal problems on the Saturday about a chicane.
Would a chicane of been unfair to the Bridgestone runners, yes. But if they we’re the only ones going to get points anyhow, does that really matter? Ferrari would still of walked away with 18 points. And yes rules are for a reason. Why do you think the Michelin teams wanted to forego points? they just wanted to put on some kinda show for the fans even if they we’re not going to gain anything to the championship.
I’m not saying it would of been easy for the teams to adept to the changes in the track. But they wanted the chicane so obviously they decided they could deal with any of the changes. And if they think they could of dealt with the changes, than I’ld go with thier experience. The chicane was and much safer proposal than the FIA’s idea of driving around the problematic corner with pit lane speed limiters on. Oh yeah great….most the cars crawling around and you have 6 others coming up 100mph faster up your rear. So very safe an idea.
I feel so sorry for the fans. It wasn’t right that it was a 6 car parade. And they have all the right to be so annoyed by all of this. With Bernie so annoyed over Mosley going against him his positions pretty much had it. And after this disaster the sooner he goes the better.
June 24th, 2005 at 6:11 am
Allan I’ve got to disagree with you, I think this article might shed a little more light on what actually happened and Mosley’s and Ferrari’s input into the situation.
http://www.formula1.com/race/news/3218/740.html
See what you think, the answers seem pretty sound to me.
June 25th, 2005 at 10:29 pm
http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/29/29335/folders/207436/1585927michletter.jpg