Formula One

[Lee DeRaud]

Hope there weren't any Creekers in the crowd that got ripped off at Indy.

Despite being a die-hard Ferrari/Schumacher fan, I think this was just plain wrong.:(

[Ian Barley]

Lee

This was a charade centered around self important political interests in this multi-million sport. Ain't nobody who is a fan is proud of this days work.

[Jason Roehl]

I can't say I'm much of an F1 fan, but I've caught a race on the tube here and there. Anytime 14 of 20 teams don't compete, you've got a serious embarassment on your sport's hands.

Like any racing sport, I guess F1 needs to decide whether or not to allow any mechanical competition or innovation, or just make the cars so equal, that the competition is restricted solely to the driver and the pit-stops.

On a related note, I wonder what team David Stern is going to tell the refs to favor next year in the NBA. I've never seen such poor, inconsistent officiating in a "professional" sport.

Yawn.

[JayStPeter]

That was pathetic.
Those tire rules are stupid to start with.

They're sure not going to draw any NASCAR fans putting on horrible events like that.

Jay

[Bill Arnold]

I don't follow F1, but listened with interest to some of the commentary today. Without thorough analysis and study of the matter, one conclusion to be drawn is that Michellin decided their tires wouldn't hold up to the speeds, whereas Bridgestone didn't have that issue.

[Michael Perata]

F1 is a European rules driven sport, hence the name Formula One.

The FIA should stay in Europe where the battle between Bridgestone and Michelin is as great as the battle between Ferrari and McClaren or Michael and Kimi and Fernando.

F1 is a great sport and I have never seen a better race than the 2005 San Marino between Alonzo and Schumacher, but it was a F1 race and "foreign" to most of us.

[Steven Wilson]

Michael,
The United States Grand Prix has been held 60 times and a number of Grand Prix events occur elsewhere in the America's (Canada, Brazil) as well as Asia and the Middle-East. It's not just a European sport, many Americans enjoy open wheel racing that makes right hand turns as well as left. Your snide comment about F1 staying in Europe isn't appreciated.

I think the rules in effect this year regarding tires were ill-advised and dangerous. I really don't care how many tire changes a team makes during the race weekend. Having said that, the cars running Michellin tires could have raced but they choose not to; the rules applied equally to both camps. Unfortunately there are only two tire suppliers in F1 and only 3 teams run Bridgestone. No one made a big stink when Micheal Schumacher sat out a race because he thought his Bridgestones were unsafe. If the FIA wanted to take tire differences out of the race equation then they should just appoint a single tire supplier for all teams.

[JayStPeter]

Michael,
Your snide comment about F1 staying in Europe isn't appreciated.


I agree. I'm a fan of most forms of motorsports and wish many of the world (or "European" according to Steven) racing series had a larger presence and following in the US. The US is really not a great place to be a motorsports fan. Aside from NASCAR, nothing else gets much coverage. Even though I don't mind NASCAR, there's lots of other really good racing to watch. Speed Channels new mostly NASCAR format is a real bummer. I really miss seeing some of the "lesser" series on weekday evenings.

As a long time fan of F1, I always hope it catches on here. But, with absolutely stupid tire rules and all the whining that goes on, I am getting turned off to it myself. If it wasn't for some poor planning on my part, I would've been at that pathetic Indy event. Boy, would I be pissed.

BTW Steven, I don't think the Michelin teams could've "chosen" to race. I think Michelin made it clear that the tires were unsafe. Had a team chosen to race and crashed, they would've been liable for endagering the life of their driver beyond reason. I also suspect that had a team chosen to race, regardless of outcome, they may not have a tire sponsor anymore.

Jay

[Michael Perata]

Sorry Steven, but my comments were not snide, but a realistic view of the sport.

NFL Footbal is played in Europe but you would hardly call it a European sport. Yes, F1 has raced everywhere, many times, but the FIA remains European centric. The reason the 14 teams refused to race yesterday was not Michelin refusing to re-tire the field, but FIA's refusal to let them.

While I have no hard facts for the following, I would bet the teams would not mind reducing the number of races by one. think of the expense of bringing two full car/drivers/crews over hear so they can lose money, but give the manufacturers advertising space.

I doubt even Scott Speed will cause most U.S. race fans to warm to eccentricities of FIA F1. BTW: I don't watch NASCAR, except for the Sonoma race, and I seldom watch the sprints because I like drivers who know how to make right turns and manage to brake without locking their wheels ups.

[Lee DeRaud]

The reason the 14 teams refused to race yesterday was not Michelin refusing to re-tire the field, but FIA's refusal to let them.Changing the tires was not really the issue. The sequence (as I understand it):
1. Ralf Schumaker and Jarno Trulli had crashes Friday that were attributed to tire failure. Michelin started investigating.
2. During Saturday qualifying, Michelin announced that the tires had a problem and would not be safe to race. The exact nature of the problem was unknown at that time. They had replacement tires being air-freighted to the US for the race Sunday. Most likely scenario was that the Michelin teams would be allowed to use the new tires, but they would have to start behind the Bridgestone teams.
3. Saturday night, Michelin engineers figured out exactly what was wrong and determined that the replacement tires were also subject to the same failure mode.
4. Late Saturday or early Sunday, the Michelin teams requested that a chicane be installed between turns 12 and 13 (the short chute between turns 1 and 2 of the normal configuration) to slow the cars into turn 13, where the G-loads were causing the tire failure. The Indy people (Tony George) were willing to do this.
5. FIA announced they would not sanction the race if the track configuration was changed.
6. The Michelin teams, faced with a choice between racing with unsafe tires or drastically limiting the car speeds in turn 13 (which would have been incredibly dangerous for everyone since the Bridgestone cars would not be slowing there), withdrew from the race.

There were no race-safe Michelin F1 tires available at race time, period. It's unknown whether the Bridgestone teams would have agreed to the chicane, but I suspect they would have, considering the alternative (ie. what actually happened) and based on their comments after the fact.

The decision that finally led to Sunday's fiasco was made by FIA competition director Charlie Whiting, who was in England at the time. But for the life of me, I do not understand why his boss, Bernie Ecclestone, who was in Indy for the race, didn't override that decision.

[Randy Meijer]

F1 is a European rules driven sport, hence the name Formula One.

The FIA should stay in Europe ...but it was a F1 race and "foreign" to most of us.

Montreal.....Melbourne.....Kuala Lumpur.....Indianapolis.....Budapest..... Istanbul.....Sao Paulo.....Suzuka.....Shanghai..... not exactly an European sport, anymore. Mike, you're a little behind the times.

IMO, F1 drivers are, collectively, the best in the world.....bar none and it is a priviledge to have the opportunity to see them run first hand!!!! No doubt the Indianapolis race, this year, was a fiasco; but that is hardly unique. NASCAR had fans throwing beer cans on a track last year after a race was finished at 50 mph under yellow and look at the Cart/IRL thing. Stupidity is not unique to "European racing", American racing has a fair amount of its own silliness!!!

There were over a hundred thousand people at Indianapolis to whom F1 was not "foreign" and many hundreds of thousands more who didn't/ couldn't attend who also love the sport. Mike, you are certainly entitled to your opinion about F1; but do be aware that there are many who would disagree with you!!!

[Michael Perata]

I am not anti-F1 - quite the contrary. There is no better, more fascinating, safer, technologically current and expensive motor sport currently available. I am truly a fan of the sport and hope to make the San Marino and Monaco in a couple of years. (Wife wants to do the Tuscany downhill bike tour.)

Why, when a venue such as Indy, can sell out more than 450,000 seats twice a year, have difficulty filling half of a F1 configured stadium? Hint: it is because most U.S. race fans can't undertand why the race car didn't hit the wall when it turned right and don't understand why 22 year old Alonzo winning a race by 15 seconds is really the news. There are many, many more races available with much more interesting cars and strategies than simply the sprints and stocks. Why is it a great race spectacle like the American LeMans Series barely gets air time on the Speed channel? I would offer this: F1 cars look like funny sprints and GT cars don't look like anything, and most U.S. race fans like simple familiarity. (Note I said most, not all!)

As for the non-Euro venues listed above (I think the Hungarians and some Turks might take issue with their assigned non-Euro status), these venues pay the teams much more than simply expenses to get the races held at their venues, and they have considerably more, much more in attendance than the relative pittance that showed up for the U.S. F1 race.

Why, when we in the U.S. exalt our athletes with so much adulation and monet is the highest paid ever athlete a German F1 driver. Michael Schmacher stands to go over the BILLION dollars mark sometime next year. And that amount is only from his driving fees and purses.

Why doesn't the U.S. have any drivers in F1? Hint: the Euro owners/driver think the U.S. drivers don't have it. Red Bull had to a create a race car driver audition of sorts to find a U.S. driver with enough skills to foist on a reluctant team manager. Fortunately, Scott Speed seems to have the stuff to maybe follow in Mario's shoes.

I say F1 is a Euro sport simply because it is a Euro sport, occasionally going beyond its borders for the money. There is no U.S. in F1, save maybe a Ford Cosworth here and there (made in Britain, BTW).

[Frank Pellow]

I know very very little about car racing and do not follow the sport. But I will say that, with what little I have seen, for me, formula 1, is much more interesting than things like stock car racing, drag racing, and "Indy 500" type racing.

[JayStPeter]

Why, when a venue such as Indy, can sell out more than 450,000 seats twice a year, have difficulty filling half of a F1 configured stadium? Hint: it is because most U.S. race fans can't undertand why the race car didn't hit the wall when it turned right and don't understand why 22 year old Alonzo winning a race by 15 seconds is really the news. There are many, many more races available with much more interesting cars and strategies than simply the sprints and stocks. Why is it a great race spectacle like the American LeMans Series barely gets air time on the Speed channel? I would offer this: F1 cars look like funny sprints and GT cars don't look like anything, and most U.S. race fans like simple familiarity. (Note I said most, not all!)

I say F1 is a Euro sport simply because it is a Euro sport, occasionally going beyond its borders for the money. There is no U.S. in F1, save maybe a Ford Cosworth here and there (made in Britain, BTW).

Even though Indy doesn't sell out, it is still one if the highest attended races of the F1 season. I think it was 3rd last year. Ironically, they thought it might be 1st this year. Somehow, I don't think they'll hit that mark next year.

Unfortunately for us fans of road racing, going left draws more attendance than pretty much all racing combined in Europe.

My favorite form of racing is motorcycle road racing. There is no other form of racing where passes are made up to 2 or 3 times per lap ... talk about no crowds in the US. There are actually American factory riders in MotoGP (3 of them). In fact, the number 1 rider for team Honda is from Georgia and sounds a lot like a NASCAR driver when he talks :D . But, Nicky Hayden is probably more well known in Europe than the US. Unfortunately, 5th and 6th place finishes probably won't keep him as Hondas number one rider for long.

Jay

[Mike Wilkins]

That situation was a shame. Other than NASCAR, racing in the US of A does not get a lot of press. The FIA may have shot themselves in the foot with this one. My understanding is that the option of adding a chicane to slow the speeds in the turn that was causing the problem was shot down by the FIA.
This may be the end of a F1 race in the country, as the Indy folks are in the decision phase now.

[Chris Padilla]

Michelin messed up, plain and simple. While the FIA can modify its rules to help minimize the chance of such catastrophes happening again in the future, they did the right thing over the weekend. On the other hand, Michelin came off looking like a bunch of fools.

What will I remember from all of this?

* Bridgestone - Good

* Michelin - Bad

Does Joe Sixpack remember the technical issues of the Firestone/Exploder debacle? No - those that remember any of it at all just remember to not buy those tires and that truck.

[JayStPeter]

Michelin messed up, plain and simple. While the FIA can modify its rules to help minimize the chance of such catastrophes happening again in the future, they did the right thing over the weekend. On the other hand, Michelin came off looking like a bunch of fools.

What will I remember from all of this?

* Bridgestone - Good

* Michelin - Bad

Does Joe Sixpack remember the technical issues of the Firestone/Exploder debacle? No - those that remember any of it at all just remember to not buy those tires and that truck.



Chris,

It has happened before (to Bridgestone) and the FIA has not responded with reasonable tire rules. Their current rules are unsafe IMO and will lead to more of this kind of problem if they don't fix them. At the end of the day, they did the right thing and penalized the Michelin teams the same way they did the Bridgestone teams before. But, the fact remains that the fans and sponsors get no satisfaction from this (in either case).

Jay

[Steven Wilson]

While I have no hard facts for the following, I would bet the teams would not mind reducing the number of races by one. think of the expense of bringing two full car/drivers/crews over hear so they can lose money, but give the manufacturers advertising space.

IIRC The US Grand Prix draws the second highest number of fans on the F1 circuit. The US GP follows right after the Canadian GP so the combination makes sense for the teams schedule and money wise; at least a lot more sense than the Australian GP, Malyasian GP, Bhahrain GP portion of the schedule (that's a long trip). Or finishing up at Suzuka or the one off in Brazil.

[Les Spencer]

Living close to Indy and being a race fan, I could care less if F-1 ever returns. I attended the first 2 GP's and how boring. The main reason the IRL was formed was to change the rules to make for more competitive racing. Close finishes are what puts meat in the seats. Not seeing a red car who has a budget of $300 mil a year run away from everyone. Why do you think attendance has declined every year. There were no races.

Bernie spent the first part of the week complaining that IMS was not promoting the race enough. The middle part of the week making degrading comments about Danica Patrick and women in general. The last part of the week slinking out of town.

Michlein blew it. Should have brought the other sets of tires to start with.
They said the second sets weren't safe either but I'd bet that was because they knew they weren't going to be allowed to run them. FIA would not bend. BTW Bridgestone did bring 2 sets.

IMO this was all politics. Some of the teams have been threatening to break away from F-1 and this may of been the beginning.
That's my 2 cents worth.