OK, I was "all about" the chicane solution at first, but honestly I'm coming around to the FIA's point of view that the Michelin teams should have just run slower in T13:
- They could have used a modified rev limiter or a max gear to allow the drivers to go "as fast as possible" (since race drivers are mentally "programmed" to do so) but still be as slow as necessary
- The FIA was willing to enforce a speed limit in T13 via black flags, etc.
- The Michelin teams would still have been fighting for points, just among themselves and only for 7th and 8th.

I know there was some element of danger for the drivers in having to negotiate T13 in cars at vastly different speeds, but a "slow" and a "fast" line would have quickly developed. (And hey, that's why these drivers make the big bucks - they can handle driving in traffic!) Also, the chicane solution would have been arguably just as dangerous, since it would obviously have been a last-minute design with no formal safety preps, little or no practice time for the drivers, etc. Not to mention, it would be fundamentally unfair to the Bridgestone teams, whose tire designs were compromised to withstand the circuit.

Some might say that having the Michelin teams cruising around T13 still would have made the race a "farce", but I think it's not nearly as bad, since it still would have been absolutely true that the Michelin teams were running as fast as they were able to go.

 

Here are Max Mosley/FIA comments on what happened.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/artic...D=189457&FS=F1

As much as i hate the direction F1 has been going recently i find it hard to criticize his side of the story.

Having said that he failed to come up with/sanction a solution everyone could live with. Likely an impossible task.

 

John, I fundamentally agree with you. This was a Michelin problem, fair and simple. Those 7 teams should be sanctioned as well. They didn't compromise by running the circuit and then slowing down in that section as they well could have. Instead they told the US fans to off.

Blame Michelin, blame the teams, but there's no blame to be put on FIA or Tony George this time.

 

The more I read and think about it the more I side with the FIA's decision, as outlined in their press release. A chicane was NOT the solution to the problem. The Michelin teams had several options that were MUCH better than pulling into the pits after the warm-up lap.

My impression is that they simply had a temper-tantrum because they didn't get their way, so they took the toys and went home to pout.

 

As much as I dislike Mosley, his comments are precise and very thoughtful. Michelin certainly wears the "Black Hat" here

F1DNA

Sebring/Black

T.D.

 

I thought they just should have slowed down. It's a load of horse manure to say that a professional driver is "unable to control himself" in terms of speed. How would it have been any different than any other time a driver slows down to save tires or to save brakes or to stretch fuel?

And no professional driver should ever be blocking cars who are competing for positions when he himself is not competitive. Sports car racers run wildly different speeds on the same track all the time. F1 drivers can't do that?

No, the Michelin teams wanted to bust the control of the FIA, and the FIA called their bluff. Bernie and Tony were squeezed in the middle.

Ferrari was being ruthlessly competitive, which we all know they always are. After everyone has been so gleeful about their fall from the championship this year, you don't expect they would refrain from acting when the tables turn, do you?

Obviously the problem was Michelin screwing up, but the failure to reach some sort of solution seems to be shared by many people -- though it falls most heavily on the Michelin teams.

 

Excellent point!


Hell, we do that at our events. Just this weekend, there was up to a 20 sec/lap (on an 80 sec lap time) differential between the fastest and slowest cars in our red group. I think if we can be expected to deal with that safely at the amateur level, then F1 drivers should certainly have the ability to do so as well

 

Clearly I'm no fan of Max and I think it is time for him to be put out to pasture. I read the interview and I agree he made a lot of good points.

I for one NEVER thought the chicane was a good idea; I was at the track this year for my 3rd time, it's a freegin oval with concrete walls. You can't just shove a chicane in there and expect it to be safe, the distance between the walls is too small!

One thing I still stand firm on against the FIA and Max is his attitude. I honestly believe if he had taken the US GP serious and had gotten his but over here to be at the race, communications with the teams and Michelin could have transpired at a faster more immediate pace and some type of comprimise could have been worked out, and then enforced.

 

What compromise? And why? Michelin ed up and you want everyone else to compromise for them? What makes them deserving of special treatment?

The compromise should have been that they run slowly enough to not explode their inferior equipment. What about that letter of June 1 where Michelin responds that the tires are safe? You think if Bridgestone had a similar problem that the seven Michelin teams would have been willing to "compromise" for them?

Michelin. They're going to be out of F1 and deservedly so.

 

I agree with #1 100%, #2 however I'm really afraid you are wrong. I see Bridgestone staying with the FIA and Ferrari and Michelin staying with the entire breakaway series. The last year the concord agreement is in play should be very interesting, because as I see it now, it is going to be Ferrari racingf against themselves as everybody else seems more than happy to go in the opposite direction of the FIA.