Personally, I think it is ludicrous to even consider that Ferrari be
blamed for the problems that occurred at Indy. Their tires were up to
the task at the USGP while Michelin's were not. Think back to previous
races this year when the Bridgestones were not up to the performance of
Michelins. Ferrari didn't ask for any special considerations to make
their performance equal to Michelin shod cars. Instead, they took their
lumps and took what fate gave them while Bridgstone kept working on the
problem and have since improved the product.
Except for the damage done to the fans and sponsors (and perhaps the
future of F1 in the US), I say that everything has now evened out. With
Renault being overshadowed recently by McLaren and Ferrari hot on their
heels, it looks like an exciting season yet to come when it looked like
only a few short weeks ago that Renault had it wrapped up.
Joe
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Dave Riddle
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 2:40 PM
To: f500@f500.org; wheeltowheel@wheeltowheel.com; fot@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [F500] Re: USGP Michelin FIA
>I'm referring not to Ferrari and the FIA being "nice guys". My
>understanding is that one of the proposals was to let the Bridgestone
cars
>have the points, or line up first on the grid, etc. The Bridgestone
>runners could have had it any way they wanted. It wasn't about points
by
>then. It was about putting on a show, providing the sponsorship
exposure
>and fan entertainment that people
Absolutely, the objective "should" be how to accommodate the fans and
the
sponsors! However, the issue still boiled down to either a Chicane was
put
in at T13 or Michelin would tell it's teams not to run. IMS was ready
to
put in a chicane and according to Frank Williams, Ferrari was not part
of
those discussions so according to him they bare no blame for that not
occurring. Peter Windsor last night even said that if Ferrari had
weighed
in on that issue one way or the other the FIA would have been correct in
ignoring them.
Run without the chicane and Michelin felt they had liability if there
was
an accident. Run with a chicane and the FIA would have opened
themselves
up to liability since they would have broken/ignored the rules they are
supposed to enforce. Therefore, the FIA said that they would withdraw
the
sanction if a chicane was used.
Personally I think running a "demonstration" race without FIA sanction
would have been the best outcome as far as the general fans were
concerned
and for the future health of F1 in the US. Although whose sanction and
thereby whose "insurance" would they have run under?
I think that the immovable object of liability litigation exposure was
probably the main sticking point in both groups mind.
>paid for. Now, needless to say, it's become a much larger issue than it
>would have been otherwise. And all US F1 fans will suffer from this. I
am
>one of those.
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