Today, at the beginning of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, tire manufacturer Michelin opted to pull their cars out of today's race in fear of the driver's safety.

On practice Friday and Saturday, several drivers with Michelin tires crashed at turn 13 (turn 1 of the oval) most notably Ralf Schumacher, who was involved in a crash earily similar to his crash last year that broke three of his vertabre.

Why did this happen? Because Tony George and his Indianapolis Motor Speedway repaved the surface late last year and early this year. However, they couldn't correctly pave the track ands they enede up with an unsafe surface where the infield road course meets the oval that makes up the 13 turn F1 course. If they had corretly repaved the course, this farce of a race wouldn't have occured.

Now in the defense of Mr. George and the IMS, they agreed to the building of a temporary chicane around turn 13 to slow all the cars down and ensure the safety through the turn 13 area. However, Max Mosley, head of the FIA (the governing body of F1) would not allow such a modification to the course.

Michelin flew in a completely new set of tires overnight for their drivers so they could race safely. Again, Max Mosley struck down this move, leaving the Michelin drivers no other choice but to bow out in the name of safety.

Granted, Mr. Mosley could have easily allowed the building of the chicane or Michelin the other tire compound or both, the his whole incident could have been prevented IN THE FIRST PLACE if Mr. George's IMS could have PROPERLY paved the track have tested it's safety long before this wekend. Shame on Mr. Mosley and even more shame on Mr. George. Thanks for screwing up open wheel racing in the US...again!!!!

Warren

 

All I have to say is that, If michelin cannot make a safe tire for F1, I will never buy a set again. Hello Bridgestone and thank you for not being a bunch of pussies like the Michelin guys. Bridgestone will get my business from now on.

 

the rumor is, when indycars were testing their car early this year, they had a similar problem. so tire manufacturer had to make some modification to make it safe. firestone who's one of the manufacturer in indy race and happened to be a sister company of bridgestone may have supplied information.

I think it was right thing for michellin and team to pull cars out but watching it was like a practice session.

 

You're right Nibble, Bridgestone had knowledge because of sister company Firestone's experience. Nascar also tested there and ran into a similar problem, so they had to push back the date for their race at Indy.

I too think Michelin was right in their decision.

Warren

 

Your blaming the track for repaving?!? The tires failed for structural reasons not wear. How does the track surface (the same one used for the Indy 500 BTW have anything to do with tires that fail due to being overloaded on the banking?

Michelin brought tires but it would have helped if they brought tires for Indy to Indy. It's a bit like showing up to the US Open without your clubs.

 

IMO its all Michelins fault.. the track and its revamp over the winter had nothing to do with it...

 

Yes, I am blaming the track. The warning signs were ther when the IRL cars tested and had problems. In fact testing was cancelled after only 2 hrs due to tire issues. Nascar also had the same issues when they tested there. So what's the common denomonator? The track!

The only way Bridgestone was able to have the tires they did at today's race was due to the IRL's testing in which sister company Firestone discovered their issues, thus giving Bridgestone an UNFAIR advantage.

Warren

 

That's a load of BS. Refer to my post above.

Warren

 

IMO i am just gonna pin this one on Max and Bernie becuase I don't like them anyway.

 

Tony Goerge gets blamed for this?

He is probably the biggest loser out of this whole mess. He makes his money, on this F1 race, merely from the gate and concessions. He pays Bernie in advance for the pleasure of having them come to town. I know he lost a few bucks from me (I had only one philly cheesesteak sandwich before I left today and I might not buy tickets to the F1 race here or anywhere again).

I have no doubt that Bridgestone had better intelligence on the new track at Indy than did Michelin due to the Firestone situation, but it was not a secret that Indy was resurfaced, and Michelin could have done testing or at least visited the track. Blame Michelin for causing this mess.

For letting the mess ruin the race, Blame Ferrari for the bad race and Mosley and the FIA. Had Ferrari not sided agains the other 9 teams we would have seen a real race today. They refused to consent, so the FIA really had no choice but to enforce the rules.