There is a strange situation in United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Michelin had a couple of tire failures on Friday practice. Both were for Toyota drivers. Ralf had a huge crash though not as severe as the one last year. He pulled out of the GP. The other was the Ricardo Zonta.
Michelin are not able to figure out what caused the problem. They say that the tires can last only 10 laps. They can not ensure safety after this. They had asked FIA about letting their teams change to safer and older tires for the race. FIA turned it down and said teams changing tires will get a huge penalty.
Michelin then asked FIA to install a chicane at turn 13 and reduce the speeds so that the tires will not be stressed to much. FIA turned this down too.
Now Michelin has advised the teams not to run. This is bad for F1. I feel the teams should be allowed to change tires and race with a penalty of a few grid places.
Related posts:
- Is Ferrari to blame for Michelin’s fault?
- Tire wars
- Tire and weather in Malaysia
- Its 6 against 1 in 2004
- Tire performance in US GP
Kevin Breit
June 19, 2005 at 10:26 PM
I was at the GP today. It was…interesting. I am a Ferrari fan (wearing my shirt today) so the 1-2 was welcome to me, especially considering the constructors cup being so much closer today than it was yesterday.
On the other hand, I’m a little disappointed the race wasn’t competitive. I don’t blame Ferrari for this. It wasn’t their problem, they shouldn’t have to pay for it.
I think that the FIA has forgot that it’s about entertainment. Here’s what I’d say:
1) Make everyone race
2) Have the Michelin teams take it easy going into turn 13 (where I sat)
3) Forgo the tire change rule and let the teams change their tires as much as they’d like to keep things safe.
This would have made the race fun for the fans. I paid a lot of money for my F1 visits and would like to see the excellent racing I’ve come to expect in F1.
Vasanth
June 20, 2005 at 11:08 AM
I agree that FIA did not do enough to ensure a good race. Sad.