[Leica] The United States Grand Prix - this is a long post

[Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie)]

On 22 Jun, 2005, at 00:54, Seth Rosner wrote:


>
> Now to the real reason for this post, the debacle at Indy last  
> Sunday. It was clear to me on Sunday, watching and listening to the  
> race report, that the culprit was Michelin (whose tires I have used  
> with great satisfaction for many years). They supplied a tire that  
> was unsafe in the circumstances of this race. All of the physical  
> parameters of the race were well-known to all teams and suppliers.  
> Michelin manufactured and delivered to its teams tires unsuitable  
> to those conditions.
>
> Let me ask you just what you think would have been the response of  
> the Michelin-supplied teams if Bridgestone had supplied Ferrari  
> with unsafe tires and had then asked Charlie Whiting of the F.I.A  
> to allow the installation of a chicane to lower the speeds in turn  
> 13 so that Ferrari's Bridgestone tires would not fail? And so that  
> the speeds of all of the Michelin-equipped cars would be reduced to  
> speeds that Ferrari could match? Give me a break!
>
> Michelin screwed up and wanted the F.I.A. to bail them out. There  
> was no Ferrari-driven cabal or comspiracy here.
>
> Frank was absolutely right in writing that Whiting's decision was  
> correct. The Michelin teams tried very hard with really outrageous  
> commercial pressure to get the F.I.A. to violate its own rules. The  
> fault lies with Michelin. The fault for the debacle lies with the  
> Michelin-shod teams. They could have raced in turn 13 at lower  
> speeds. Or they could have changed worn-out tires during the race  
> and accepted the penalty for doing so. They chose to threaten and  
> then grossly to embarrass the international racing community. Bad  
> show.


The problem was not that the tyre wore out but that the construction  
failed. Both practice crashes happened on the first lap. They were  
both massive crashes, pieces of the cars could have ended up in the  
spectator areas. Going slow in the corner 13 was only a solution in  
the mind of the FIA - I consider that he really is taking the piss  
with his press release.
I do not believe there was a Ferrari driven cabal either, one of my  
best friends and long time fishing partner is technical director  
there, but there is no doubt that Jean Todt never compromises their  
potential success in any way - hence Ferrari team orders - and he was  
the only team principal not to agree to the chicane, if he had there  
would have been no problem to have a race as the other two  
Bridgestone teams did agree. OTOH I completely respect his decision  
to do everything in his power to win races for himself and screw  
everybody else - it is his job. Nobody has been more ruthless than he  
in the history of the sport, by the way the team orders race win was  
pretty rare before he became Ferrari boss, since then he has been  
extremely single minded and they have won a lot.

Frank