The politics in Formula 1 has stooped down to such a dirty level, that only 6 cars raced on the track. There will be a lot of finger pointing, but majority of the blame lies with Michelin. This is not the first time, they are racing there. Is it? Last year itself Ralf crashed at end of turn 13. Shouldnt they have taken extra precautions whilst manufactoruing the tyres? Why should everyone suffer for their mistakes? Whatever, the outcome was pathetic 
I really pity the people, who went to watch the race like our Anand. It would have been a real disappointment after spending so much time and money. Cha!
Off late, the relationship between FIA and the teams has not been very good. I really wonder whats going to happen, after this Concorde Agreement comes to an end.
I love Ferrari to win, but not in this way.
This is the last thing I expected after slogging in the office for 28 hours over the weekend. If anyone wants to learn the abusive vocabulary in any language, ask the people who watched the race last night.
A black day in the history of Formula 1!!!
on 20 Jun 2005 at 11:05 am # Sebastian
May have been Michelin’s fault, similar things have happened in the past and the rules where overlooked cause the affected party was Bridgestone and Ferrari.
Continue reading
Race Director Charlie Whiting
Ross Brawn’s drinking buddy released a letter that he got from Michelin with some smart answers as to why they couldn’t use different tyres on Sunday.
But he’s changed the rules for Bridgestone prior to a race so we’ve been here before. It’s surprising nobody’s questioned why Whiting changed the tyre rules at the beginning of the 2003 Brazilian GP.
Back in 2003 you were only allowed to take one wet tyre to races, so you had to make your mind up before the event. Bridgestone arrived at Interlagos with their legendary intermediate tyre that was quite good in wet and mixed conditions. Michelin had a full wet that could run in more rain.
When the heavens opened before the race, Whiting delayed the start because the Bridgestone runners wouldn’t have been able to make it round safely. It was clearly Bridgestone’s fault for not bringing a full wet tyre, but as the argument has gone this weekend – they knew the situation…
After delaying the start the field was then sent round Interlagos behind the Safety Car until enough water was taken off the circuit. Had they released the field when it was suitable for the Michelins on full wets, then Fisichella would never have won the race in his Jordan and Kimi Raikkonen may well have got the win.
Nobody complained because it was a safety issue. Fast forward two years and Whiting is not prepared to compromise in another safety situation. This interpretation of the rules when it suits them makes F1 fans deeply suspicius - it’s like there was an agenda here from the FIA.
on 20 Jun 2005 at 11:12 am # Krishna
me is lost….No F1 GK
on 20 Jun 2005 at 11:19 am # F e r r a r i
Sebastian,
Trust you to come up with this argument. Last year, the same turn 13 Ralf crashed. Michelin tyres were the reason right.
Same corner, same accident. So dont you think it is Michelin’s fault?
In the year 2003 the Interlagos circuit was flooded with a thunderstorm right? Situations were completely different.
In 2003 other teams agreed. This year Ferrari didnt agree. As simple as that.
There you go. One more reason to hate Ferrari
on 20 Jun 2005 at 11:51 am # Sebastian
I never said Michelin was not at fault.
What I am saying is they could have come up with a solution. I sat up till 1:30 in the morning watching 6 cars going round and round
This weekend had a lot of firsts
First time I saw six cars start a race.
First time I heard Ferrari Pit to car radio during race.
First time Indian finished in points.
Ya true one more reason to hate Ferrari
on 20 Jun 2005 at 1:43 pm # Sathish
the worst part is even though Narain Karthikeyan completed the race he should have fought for 3rd place instead of being behind his team mate. his team mate has showed definite signs of improvement over the races while Narain has not. this is something bad for him.
on 20 Jun 2005 at 4:22 pm # Srivatsan
michelin blamed FIA (they wanted the additional chicane or wanted to be allowed to change tyres) rules are rules, just because michelin tyres r used in 14 cars doesnt mean that they can ar twist FIa (alrite wen entire grid was on bridgestone) but sad race yeah. shocked.
ps i think narain career in F1 is over. *sob*
on 20 Jun 2005 at 4:26 pm # Srivatsan
2003 was safty issue, FIA is not biased towards bridgestone, this yr it was completely a michelin fault. their tyre had a manufacturing defect
on 20 Jun 2005 at 5:38 pm # nibu
if michelin cant make good enough tyres, it is there problem. that is not a reason for ferrari to give up the advatage they got with there well developed tyre, thanks to the increased attention we are getting from the team bridgestone. and think of the tyre politics, every company except ferrari droping bridgestone for an european manufactuer and a few backrunners.
me think they got what they deserve. do your homework badly and you suffer. (i thought i heard a lot of luaghter when ferrari cars were not performing that well this season. how about cutting the race speed to 100 mph since ferrari was not able to keep up their consistency)
and sebastian, you are not the only one who stayed awake to watch the game, and your are not the only one who is upset. ( me thinks this week we had the real thing to crush all them. grrr. that is ok. we will wait another fortnight)
on 20 Jun 2005 at 7:09 pm # Desi Pundit :: F1 Or A Joke? :: June :: 2005
[...] 4 am
F1 Or A Joke?
Like every other F1 fanatic worth his salt, Prabhu is unhappy with Michelin for the mess which resulted in a 6 care race. We can understand Prabhu’ [...]
on 20 Jun 2005 at 7:22 pm # F e r r a r i
Yes guys,
I feel narain is overdoing things a bit
Desi Pundit,
Hi
on 20 Jun 2005 at 7:43 pm # Jacky
FIA should’ve saved the race by enforcing a stop and go penalty for all cars (30 secs) wearing Michelin within first 5 laps. So Bridgestone gets some advantage otherwise it’d be an unfair play.
Sebastian,
FIA favored Michelin teams in 2003 by not revoking the points earned by 5 race wins. 4 by Williams and one by Renault. Is it so easy to forget illegal rubber scam? Making tires to elongate during the race and providing cars with better grip is no trivial mistake. They got away with it. But this time FIA should’ve let all the cars race by providing some advantage to Bridgestone teams.
on 20 Jun 2005 at 8:13 pm # Arun
Pathetic that sterday’s race has spoiled the championship standings both drivers and const
Ferrari has now come from nowhere to 63..on par with mclaren in 2nd place..and schumi has 34..jus 3 less than raikkonen..
sebastian,
gud thing u brought up the ferrari team radio thing..if i heard right, they talked abt schumi overtaking rubens by pit strategy..now..y wud a team use pit strategy for 1 player to beat his own team mate?if the same strategy is used for rubens, he cud hav won the race..poor rubens..i feel he always got the raw deals..
on 21 Jun 2005 at 3:38 am # Schumi_fan
Hi Ferrari,
Yep..i was there in Indy and listened to all the abusive languuages and bottle throws.
Whenever Bernie came out to view the race,people Booed and did all stuff..
Quite an experience…After winning,schumi didn’t jump nor showed any signs of happiness…
And we were totally clueless as why all the teams with Michelin tyres pulled out…there were no announcements made…
one more thing,i never saw people shouting at schumi…infact when the race started,people Booed and when schumi was in sight,it kind of stopped…
I think Michelin is the sole owner of this whole fiasco.Just because 7 teams are cooperating with them,they cannot ask for a new chicane addition at Turn 13…and it wouldn’t have been correct,if FIA has agreed to it.
But altogether,it was a very different experience and i don’t think it’ll ever happen again..:):)
on 21 Jun 2005 at 9:31 pm # Rohit
At Interlagos 2003, even the Michelin tyres were intermediates. All the teams were allowed to change their specs from dry to wet which ruined Schumi’s race because he had gambled on a wet race and had qualified with specs for a wet race. This brazil 2003 keeps coming back but not many people realize that even Michelin runners had only intermediates with them and not wet tyres!
on 22 Jun 2005 at 12:10 pm # dips
Hello from a fellow ferrari fan…
and yes…while i like schumi to win…dun really like him to win this way for sure!
a few things that bothered me:
1. Why did they go for the warm up lap to get back to the pits? What were they thinkin? If its unsafe, it still would be unsafe after the warm up lap eh?
2. Why did they not make an announcement and postpone it by a week (we have back to back weekend races dont we?)?
3. The news is that Ferrari objected to building a chicane at the 13th corner (FIA also objected to it and ferrari’s decision didn’t have a bearing on it!) So is it wrong to protest on making the field a level playing one (when its there for everyone to see that Michelin screwed up in their preps…u guys have already talked abt this)?
I really dunno…but Bernie’s kinda shot himself when he was trying to make this sport more popular in the land of Nascar and Indy…politics is good when someone wins and someone loses…here no one won…and everyone lost!!!