US Grand Prix

Voices from the crowd, 12 so far

First off, what makes you say “American fans”?

Last time I went to Indy, Americans were in the minority. Indy is a global destination, and F1 is far more popular in neighboring countries than it is here.

For all you know those were some Brazilians or Canadians throwing crap at the track.

Beyond that, I live in NY, only about 9 hours or so by car from Indy, and I remember how much time/money it cost me to get out there the last I went.

I also remember how isolated you are up in those stands.

Those fans paid good money and took alot of time away from work out of their lives to see that race, they had no clue what was going on when all those cars pulled off the track.

I’m not justifying what they did, but I can sympathize with their frustration.

by Adam Michela
21 hours, 1 minute after the post

While it was great to see Ferraris running fast (always agood thing!) I’ve got to say that the fiasco of the U.S. Grand Prix only served to confirm what American fans think about GP: Effete little delicate cars buzzing around Monaco while overfed Eurotrash jet setters look on. A major tire manufacturer who is unable to field a racing tire that would go around a six degree banked turn 73 times…gimme a break! GP has degenerated into the sport of weenies!

by Steve Siegrist
1 day, 1 hour after the post

Adam, no matter how frustrated they were, throwing bottles is stupid. Simply stupid. If Barichelo had touched that bottle with tyre edge (and not with the middle of the tyre as he did) it could be launched as rocket back into the crowd or some other place. Imagine it was a can and not a plastic bottle. It’s 200mph at that point and the track must be 100% clear or it would have been very dangerous.

I’m really pissed about the whole thing — it’s Michelin’s flaw , no doubt about it. However, given the factual situation, this was the only reasonable thing to do. FIA’s solutions were unreal.

Change tyres as needed — how many sets does teams have? I mean — Toyota tyres blow up after several rounds in the practice session. How much times would they have to be changed in the race?

Go slow through that part of the track — can you really imagine competitive drivers slowing while they battle for 70 laps? Tat they would remember it in the heat of the battle? Or who knows would tyres last even with that.

Etc. It simply was no-win situation. I can understand the frustration of the fans, but will not approve that one way of showing it.

by Aleksandar
1 day, 9 hours after the post

OK, let’s get this conversation back on a “racer” level and off this effete shit. US race fans are no better or worse than, say for instance, Italian fans at their major track. Theorizing about what might happen to Ruby if he runs over a plastic water bottle in a half-ton plus car at 160 mph has little relevance where physics are concerned since he DID that and the bottle vaporized. The real rubber-meets-road thing is that Indy cars and NASCAR tin-tops race at the same track on tires made in some cases by Michelin subsidiaries and they don’t whine like babies when there are tire failures. The real world physics of a NASCAR stocker hitting a wall after a blown tire are a hell of a lot more dangerous that in an F1 car: NASCAR doesn’t pre-crash test its cars, kids, but F1 does. Speaking as a US race fan with a lot more races behind him in 43 years than all of the rest of your respondents have put together (and of more varied types to boot) I use one standard at all times: would Mario Andretti or A.J. Foyt let a tire manufacturer of “team leader” tell him he couldn’t race? I bloody well think not. The “Michelin teams” have ripped the definition of “Grand Prix driver” to shreds. Fangio raced the last third of the Mille Miglia in ther 50’s with only one wheel steering, and that was on w 6:50/15 tire! Then again, he was actually a race car driver. Alonso et al merely steer a fast car.

by Norman
1 day, 21 hours after the post

The race was truly a farce. Michelin goofed badly, it appears because they didn’t do their homework. The track had been repaved, badly, and then been grinded to smooth it out. It appears that Michelin didn’t realize this. Bridgestone of course did because their sister company, Firestone provides tires for the Indianapolis 500. Despite Michelin’s culpability it was incumbent on all parties including Ferrari and the FIA to find a solution for the good of the sport and the fans. Neither of them appeared to be willing to do this. Team managers of teams running Michelins had no other option. They were told that it was unsafe to run their tires through turn 13 at full song. If they allowed their cars to run and something happened then can you imagine the legal liability. I doubt if any teamowner, such as Childress, Hendrick, Penske or Ganassi would allow their cars to run in this situation. As has been pointed out the idea of slowing down for turn 13 is nonsensical. Can you imagine Alonso leading Schumacher into the turn and then slowing down. Where does Michael go? Changing tires every 10 laps already violates F1 rules. To me a logical solution was to install the chicane, give teams enough time to acclimatize themselves with the new track configuration and run the race. Drivers on Michelin tires would only get half points. This would penalize Michelin drivers but still maintain the necessity for all drivers to run a competitive race.

Adam if you want to go to a race why not go to Montreal. It’s right next store and Montreal is very cosmopolitan and a real party city.

by Steve Caldwell
2 days, 4 hours after the post

Norman, I don’t know what was the situation back when Fangio raced, but today, if anything happens to the driver the team bosses are guilty. Frank Williams and Patrick Head went through hell of a lot of investigations when Senna died. Can you imagine what would have happened now? They were told that it was unsafe, they still let them race and a driver dies or is severely injured…
Nope, in their place I would do exactly the same thing. No race under given conditions.

And if this same guilty part applies to american racing championships, I’m more than sure that racer’s opinion will not matter.

by Aleksandar
2 days, 14 hours after the post

I’m happy for Monteiro. He got the suprise of his career on Sunday. He never expected to stand on a podium this year.

I saw Michael Schumacher’s comment that adding a chicane would not have worked (see post-race interviews on the F1 website). According to M.S., other drivers told him that they had problems with the Michelin tires other parts of the track. I’m sure that he knew a lot more about the situation than he revealed. Anyone who watched the post race interviews could see that he was wearing an “I know nothing”, poker face.

As far as the throwing trash on the track goes, there are people in every country that act like chimpanzee’s in a zoo to express displeasure.

I don’t know enough about F1 history to say this race qualifies as the biggest farce in F1 history. It definately qualifies at the biggest of the decade. I think that anyone with a sense of humor will be laughing about this race long after other more competitive & conventionally run races are forgotten. All parties involved are on the defensive & dodging fans’ anger. Of course, none can step forward, individually or collectively, to take the blame. Anyone that does will be slapped with lawsuits & bankrupted.

It was a disappointing day for F1. Many say this will be the death of F1 in the US (again). I’m not sure. More people may come next year to see if there might be another “train wreck”. It was grizzly & gruesome. We just can’t stop ourselves watching it.

by MaryBeth G.
3 days after the post

Hi again

For those who are interested there’s an interesting account of the whole USGP by Paul Stoddart. Stoddart is the head of the Minardi racing team that, reluctantly, did race last Sunday. He seems to blame FIA head, Max Mosely, and Ferrari for the farce. He points out that 9 teams were willing to race using a chicane and that Bernie Ecclestone was willing to go along with this. His account can be read at:
http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/050622/13/bq2l.html

Steve Caldwell

by Steve Caldwell
4 days, 20 hours after the post

In answer to Aleksandr, there is no history in America of lawsuits due to race car crashes. I believe you are thinking of Italy, where Colin Chapman had to stay out of thr country for years after the 1961 and 1972 crashes of his team cars and where “judges” pursued Frank Williams et al trying to prove they had a bad weld on Ayrton’s steering shaft, as if they had the knowledge to make that statement.

Trying to replace the blame for the Insult at Indy anywhere else but in Michelin’s lap defies logic. It doesn’t matter when, where or why the track was resurfaced: it was Michelin’s responsibility to appear at the track with equipment suitable for the race. They didn’t do so, and declred their own product inadequate and unsafe. That speaks to MICHELIN creating an unsafe condition, not the track. And please explain to me when, in contravention of established rules it became the responsibility of the track to accomodate ill-equipped vehicles? As I have said elsewhere, please explain to Dan Wheldon and his compatriots who took that very same turn at 200+ mph for probably 160 of 200 laps in the Indy 500(!) how Michelin can’t develop a tire to do it 73 times? Please note that I said “Let’s get this conversation back on a “racer” level”: this isn’t a “show”: U.S. fans don’t want a staged “race” for their already overpriced tickets; and the current crop of boy drivers again canot be compared to real race drivers of past eras by their attitudes and performance. Let me say it another way: Fangio won an Argentine road race before he came to Europe that was 8800 miles in length. 8800. Not on paved roads most of the time, and in home-built cars. Got that? Think he had a tire technician advising him?

by Norman
4 days, 20 hours after the post

Norman, not sure that you realize that we are mostly on same grounds. I absolutely agree that Michelin is the guilty part here. They screwed up. Simple as that, no matter what they say or do they tranfer the blame to FIA.

What I argue is what was to be done in the situation at hand. Michelin had no other tires to give to the teams, and told them that what they had is not safe and it will fail. And this is the essence — no team owner would in his right mind put his racers to the track knowing that it is ultimately dangerous to do so. I, as team owner, would not do that nor would I care if my racer is crazy idiot who is willing to take a chance. It would not be him giving explanations nor living with it.
If you on the contrary would actually take that risk, that’s your stance and only yours. I think it’s deeply wrong, but then again — opinions are like butts, everyone has one. Me, you or anybody.

Steve, many thanks for sharing the Stoddart’s link — great read. It’s stating what I also feel and agree — FIA was 100% strict with the rules and did not want to bend not an inch, even if it meant the farce we witnessed.

Not really willing to repeat myself — but withdrawal of all Michelin-supplied teams was the only possible thing to do in that case.

And to be daring — I think that this is may just be the tipping point that would give birth to GPWC in 2008.

by Aleksandar
4 days, 21 hours after the post

Norman everyone is agreeing that Michelin was to blame. The problem was that once they have said that their tires are unsafe it presents a problem for the entire F1 community to solve. Stoddart seems to say that all had agreed on a solution except the FIA/Mosely and Ferrari. For want of their agreement the fiasco occured.I would think that there would be huge legal repercussions for teams if they allowed their cars to race when they had already been told that their tires were unsafe.

Yes the Indy 500 was raced safely. But they did so on tires designed specifically for an oval track no other road surface. Michelin and Bridgestone had to design tires that would be competitive on a tight infield, a superfast straight as well as moderate banking. Bridgestone succeeded but Michelin did not. I doubt if you could take the tires designed for the Indy 500 or a NASCAR race at Daytona and expect them to perform on a tight road course. Racing tire manufacture is very sophisticated.

As to racing being a macho sport and and F1 drivers being sissies I can’t buy that. I started going to races, including F1 in 1967 and I hate to think of the number of drivers who have been killed largely due to poor safety. Fortunately in the last 10 — 20 years great progress has been made in safety and deaths have thankfully been reduced dramatically. Surely no sport is worth putting someone’s life at risk unnecessarily?

All the best

Steve

by Steve Caldwell
4 days, 22 hours after the post

The US GP was a total robbery because that GP was going to be won by Kimi and since M. Schumacher hadn’t won any GP’s this season he wanted to be “big man on campus” so he took advantage of the last turn and went cryong to the FIA.

by Felipe Florez
5 months, 1 week after the post