F1 - coming back to USA??

Ferrari screwed up BIG time by not accepting a chicane... Amazing selfishness... Its a shame for F1 ..

a couple of points

from the fans perspective
I would if I spent a couple of hundred or much more to see the race today - I would have been more than super pissed - I know that there where people that spent several thousand - tickets, airfare, hotel, drinks, race promo gear - etc.. to see what turns out to be the most shit race of the year

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a dramatic spike in chargebacks for anyone that bought tickets via their CC - which is most of the people I would presume

from the tire manufacture perspective
WTF are you thinking you know of this circuit for the past year - its not a surprise get your shit straight and test your shit - I hope that Michelin looses a shit load of business today and in the future because they cannot get their shit straight and provide a product to the teams that can handle the track - ultimately they should pay up in some way, shape or form

It was the FIA's choice not to make the change, not the tracks. And I think they made the correct choice.

It's Michelin who really fucked up. But the teams should have accepted that they brought crappy kit with them, moaning about getting the track changed is kinda like turning up to the olympics without your tracks shoes then demanding that all the other sprinters wear clogs so it's all fair.

It is an almost unbelievable situation, but just to keep the record straight, none of the teams practised at Indy until Friday. It isn't allowed.

In addition, the Indy track was resurfaced last winter for the first time in 10 years. The work was done so poorly that bumps had to be ground off all over the track. Nascar tests were postponed and two hours into the Indy tests, they were also postponed: because of cars experiencing unusual tire problems. As a result, the whole track was skimmed off, using some kind of special grinding equipment.The Indy 500 did then go ahead.

So Michelin are not the first to have tire problems at Indianapolis this year. And whether that is any kind of excuse or not, the fact remains that on Friday, two cars crashed with identical tire failures, at which point what else could Michelin do except try to find out why? What they learned was that they expected similar failures - the tread belt separating from the side walls - on all the teams' tires within 10 laps. Around 2am Sunday morning, they managed to recreate the failure in their laboratory and found their backup tires would fail the same way. However hard it is to swallow that so much money goes into developing these tires, yet something like this can happen, it did. So over to the FIA.

Their problem was that to change the rules or the track to make it possible for the Michelin teams to race safely, in effect penalized the non-Michelin teams that were ready to race. I doubt that back-runners Minardi and Jordan would have been too concerned, but Ferrari almost certainly were. Max Moseley, the boss of the governing body, said that if a chicane were put onto that last turn to slow it down, he would withdraw FIA sanction from the race, meaning that it would not have counted towards the championship.

Personally, although it would almost certainly have meant Ferrari refusing to race, that is the option I would have chosen. The fans would have been upset, but not near as upset as they were. But then again, I have no idea what fines or other penalties might have been imposed on the track owner or on teams which did participate in such a race.

It's a tragedy for F1 and its US fans in particular. F1 has the third largest TV audience of any sport in the world, despite its relative lack of exposure in the US. The past few years, holding one of the races at Indianapolis, has meant a huge growth in popularity here which was all been undone, and then some, in one afternoon. Sadly there is so much money in the sport and because there is so much at stake, so much backroom politics in it that there was already a crisis looming. It's just a huge shame it had blow up like this.

A black day for motorsport

Hey at least you still have Nascar, so you can watch technologically ancient boats drive in a circle 300 times

you're a clueless idiot
you got no clue about the business world so shut up

yeah, its not Ferrari's fault at all. You cant blame them for what happened. The only people to blame are Michelin and the cars that use they're tires

tony

The problems in F1 run deep like a cancer and yesterdays race is really only the visible tip of the iceberg that will hopefully bring things to a head. Only a few races back Schumacher had to withdraw from a race because Michelin would not allow Bridgestone any way around a problem they were having.

There is a huge power struggle, which has been going on behind closed doors for a long time, and hopefully yesterday?s farce will bring that into focus. They knew about the problem on Friday and the fact that no one wanted to find a common sense solution is beginning to look like the whole thing was allowed to go the way it did on purpose as the F1 breakaway looks increasingly imminent.

What a pity that so many seemly very clever people couldn?t have got together to rescue a race for so many people who had travelled so far at one of the worlds greatest traditional homes of motorsport.

its not the fault of ferari. Michelin fucked up. You think they all would have pulled out if Bridgestone had a problem with there tires. Dont think so. It was a shitty race but blame it on Eclestone or Michelin. Not on the teams that came out.

It already happened a while back.

ancient boats

its not their fault that michelin delivered wrong tires

give it a couple of years, and F1 will be a bit more popular than it is today!!

But yes it was a shame yesterday. I was really looking forward to the race, so fuck em!

F1 is huge in most of the world, and rarely ever seen or heard in the US.
It's the "football" (US soccer) of the motorsports world. No impact.

yeah, cant blame ferrari, they are there to try and win the title, not have a big love in with the other teams, however if i had spent a load of money i would be pissed

Flight to the GP - $300
Hotel to stay nearby in luxury - $150 a night
Tickets to the whole weekend - $200
Seeing six cars drive around a track for 2 hours - priceless

haha

Ev

IMO they have fucked up pretty big in the American market by this feassco. F-1 was a hard series to sell to the average American race fan as there is no American drivers or teams, and most NASCAR loving rednecks cant understand the whole right turn thing. So a fuck up like this will really hurt the series to the average casual race fan.

I dunno what went on to cause this whole mess, but I think it's fair to say that the tire company Michelin should take most of the blame. They are the ones that didn't bring the extra tires, no one else can be blamed for that.

I think something should have been worked out before it was too late, I'd say they knew something was wrong b4 Sat night. Then you have to think, hey the Bridgstone cars have been fucked all year because of bad tires.. are they pussying out and crying? No they kept going until they worked it out.

Any fool that is saying the Bridgestone cars shouldn't have raced or should have caved into the Michelin teams is a fool. Bridgestone did everything right why should they be penalized because the majority of the car were running Michelin's and Michelin fucked up.

Your intellect and debating capabilities are truely remarkable.. Your social skills and matury are also quite impressing..

Well you did kind of make a statement which was completely wrong. He obviously felt strongly.

It wasn't Ferraris fault. They didn't explicitly refuse a chicane, they weren't at the meeting where it was agreed, and they left it up to the FIA, they said they would oppose it if the FIA said yes though.

Michelin's fault, plain and simple. Can't blame Ferrari.

Why should they ?? It wasn't their faut.

Although the other teams were quite right not to risk their drivers, it was still their own choice to pull out. Fact !!

So Ferrari and the others can hold no blame for what happened...

lol You cant blame Ferrari? Ferrari had the choice between the fans, the image of the sport.. and their own selfish interests.. which are the "unfair disadvantage" it would have given them by allowing the other teams to participate in the race... Unfair disadvantage versus allienating millions of fans?? Fans should always be number one.. There's no sport without fans.. Ferrari should have taken the hit on this one.. THey were selfish and disrespected alot of people..


Btw.. even worst.. from what ive heard.. the other teams even offered to get NO points from the race.. Ferrari didnt agree..

How can you be that naive?? 9 of 10 teams agreed... They needed 10 to get it going.. Ferrari convienently decided to abstain from agreeing and let the FIA decide... FIA followed their rules.. (they are to blame also..) BUt saying that Ferrari is innocent is comical...

Bullshit !!

What was offered was that the 6 cars started from the front of the grid.

Unfair disadvantage ???? See if Ferrari has some problems with their engine or some shit at the next race, can they ask the others to stop the race, and wait till they are ready ?????????

Im talking about the Chicane proposition here... That Ferrari refused to agree on..

If you dont see a difference between an engine that gets blown out and a race where only 2 valid cars (of the same team) participate in.. we have a problem... That was an Extraordinary situation... Fans are number.. I cant wait to see the massive lawsuit...

6 cars.

And yes it was extraordinary, but my point is, Ferrari are not at fault here. It doesn't matter if there was ways around it to get the race going, Ferrari turned up to race, did nothing wrong, the others had the miss fortune of the tyre problem, and thats why the race turned out the way it did.

Say Ferrari did let everyone race by adding the chicane, lost points to one of the other teams, and then lost the drivers championship by 2 points.

You think they would look back and say "why did we not just race?" considering it wan't their fault anyway...

It's not Ferraris fault. They also had a problem with their tires earlier this season and nobody wanted to help them. Why the fuck shoud they help everybody else.

The guilty is of the fucked up rules.

Why the hell should Ferrari take the hit on this on too? They have had bad tires all year long but do you see them protesting and sitting out races. No they continued to work and are bringing the team back to the top.

You bet.. the sport and fans before business.. In the long run... The business will actually gain.. Now say good bye to the US market..

Without Fans.. pro sport is nothing and rather silly when you think about it.. ALWAYS fans first before your own interest...

Say yo are a football team playing on the Superbowl... only 5 players from the other team show up.. the rest are all sick.... What should the team with all their players do..? Play the game against 5 guys and win it.. piss the fans.. give the sport a black eye.. Or play the next day againts the entire opposing team.. please the fans and maybe LOSE!??? No brainer.. Fans first..

Changing the track was completely out of the question to the FIA, it would be more dangerous than running.

It has also been said by officials that the tyres that Michelin had would have had the same problems even if they went slowly around the banking