Dunno if there are any F1 fans on here...if you are you know what I'm talking about. Whole deal pisses me off. Any type of racing that's not booger-eating NASCAR is struggling to gain an audience in the US, even mighty F1. I hope this deal won't kill the sport in the US, but I fear it may have. I hope the FIA takes harsh action against those teams and Michelin. Typical frog move, pulling out because conditions didn't suit them.
Ditto. I'm sick of reading about the lack of compromise by the FIA and the Ferrari team. The bottom line is Michelin ****ed up and wasn't prepared. They should be the ones reimbursing the fans for their tickets and travel expense. It's not like this was the first time the raced through that bank at Indy.
I'd almost laid out a bunch of money to go to that race, but just couldn't swing it. It would have been a real sacrifice for my wife and I and I cannot even imagine how furious I'd be if we'd pulled the trigger and had had to sit there to watch a non-race. I've been an F1 fan for years, but I can't say that it wouldn't have permanently affected my love for the sport. And "lack of compromise," my ass. They're supposed to put a chicane out there at the last minute because Michelin screwed the pooch? Sorry frogs, it doesn't work that way.
Good to see a fellow F1 fan on the board. Glad you didn't make the trip to Indy. It just amazes me that with all the $$ pumped into F1 for research that Michelin came up with this crap. I hope this didn't doom F1 in this country. It's a shame it hasn't caught on.
From michelin's web site: Sunday June 19, 2005 Michelin puts the accent on the safety at the United States Grand Prix Michelin is very disappointed about the way the United States Grand Prix turned out at Indianapolis, Ind., today for the public, the drivers and the teams. Michelin is sorry that the tires it ran in free practice and qualifying were not suitable for use in racing conditions this weekend, but driver safety is always a priority. Michelin will never change its stance on this principle, whether we are talking about tires for competition or any other purpose. It is regrettable that our pre-race suggestions, agreed in conjunction with our partner teams, were not adopted. Had our ideas been followed, we could have guaranteed driver safety, the participation of our teams and added interest for the public. Michelin would like to thank its seven partner teams for their close collaboration, for having made propositions to the FIA and for having respected our advice on safety issues. Michelin will continue to investigate the technical reasons for the tire-related incidents that affected Toyota during Friday’s free practice. Dimanche 19 juin 2005 Grand Prix F1 d’Indianapolis Michelin met l’accent sur la sécurité au Grand Prix des Etats-Unis. Michelin est tout à fait désolé de la manière dont s’est déroulé le Grand Prix de F1 d’Indianapolis, notamment pour le public, les pilotes et les écuries. Nous regrettons de ne pas avoir fourni les pneus appropriés, mais pour Michelin la sécurité des pilotes est prioritaire. Michelin ne transige pas sur ce principe, que ce soit pour les pneus de compétition ou pour les autres types de pneus. Il est regrettable que les solutions proposées en accord avec les partenaires n’aient pas été suivies d’effet, ce qui aurait permis d’assurer à la fois la sécurité des pilotes, la compétition entre les écuries et l’intérêt du public. Michelin remercie ses écuries partenaires d’avoir collaboré étroitement avec eux pour proposer des solutions à la FIA et d’avoir totalement respecté les consignes de sécurité. Michelin continuera ses investigations pour trouver les raisons techniques qui ont affecté les pneumatiques des Toyota, au cours des essais du vendredi. French panseys.
Exactly. They've known about track conditions for, oh, what 4 years? Develop a tire to run the race. I'd have some respect for them if they'd just admit they dropped the ball in engineering rather than acting all princely with the "driver safety" bit. You know, it wasn't too many years ago that Bridgestone was the only tire manufacturer in F1. Michelin just joined up a couple of years ago. I'd love to see the FIA be like "fine, guys, nice doing business with you, but don't let the door hit ya..."
Dolemite was telling me about this yesterday and i didn't even think about it a buddy of mine went and had almost convinced me to go...
Ironically, rumor is that F1 is not only going to hit Michelin with a huge penalty, but may drop them.....this is far from over.
OT, but I like Scott's Phil Ivie Av. I think I'll go hunt for one of Phil "The Unabomber" Laak now. Back on topic... It really sounds like Michelin screwed the pooch on this one. But don't the team's that rely on Michelin share some responsibility here as well? The only thing that could let them off the hook is if the following scenario occurred: Car owner of car with Michelin tires: So Michelin, you'll have those tires ready for the Indianapolis Grand Prix, right? Michelin: Zuvv course Ze will!
I used to pay attention to F1. Back in the days that Ayrton Senna would be taken by stretcher from his car and put on an IV following a race. I think that it hasn't taken off in the US because they use so much techno that Joe Tobacco doesn't ever see on his car. And because the unfair playing field where the top teams would spend $100 million vs. the bottom teams, who would spend 25% of that (sorta like the Yankees). While this probably killed F1 in the US, I am not sure that it had much of a chance anyway. It will only succeed if they can make F1 appeal more to the professional wrestling crowd by putting huge bumpers on the cars and allowing them to hit each other while racing. And if the race didn't kill it, Bernie Eccelstone helped dampen the appeal for it based upon his remarks about women and Danica Patrick. I think the US is ready to ship F1 back to the world where people ram their heads into a wall over a pretty centering pass in front of the goalie.
Hmmm... Which of those doesn't seem to fit? Prepare for oblivion! Which tastes like Red Bull! Which is disgusting!
