Rep Power: 400

For those that missed the Formula 1 debacle this sunday here's a quick recap.

FIA changed the rules on tires this year. They made a rule that states teams can only bring 2 different compounds of tires for a race weekend, and they must use the same set the entire weekend. This is basically the "FIA casino tire rule" because it's an utter gamble. Teams have to decide what tires to use BEFORE THEY EVEN GET TO THE TRACK!

This is also why Ferarri has done poorly this year. They and bridgestone have gone very conservative on their compounds since it's a total guess as to what will perform well.

This weekend was the F1 race at Indy. Friday and saturday saw some tire failures, and michelin (who supplies 7 teams with tires) tested, and decided there was something wrong with the tires and they were unsafe. The particular concern was turn 13 since it's the only banked turn and it's at high speed. They asked FIA if they could send in a fresh set of tires for the race. The FIA said no. (Ferarri uses Bridgestone)

So, sunday, they had a 2 hour heated meeting with the teams and the FIA, and 9 of the 10 teams said if the FIA did not place a chicane in turn 13 to drastically slow the speeds, they would not compete. The 1 team that disagreed with this was Ferarri. Being that many think the FIA and Ferarri are in bed with each other, the FIA once again said "we don't care".

They were now putting the driver's lives at risk for some backhanded politics, and a foolish rule.

The cars all lined up to race sunday, and after the warmup lap, 14 of the 20 cars (all on michelin tires) pulled off and refused to race.

The race went on with only 6 cars, leaving fans stunned, disgusted, and quite pissed.


The FIA and Ecclestone (owner of F1) have lost their marbles. After 2007 the ONLY team that has signed on to stay racing with F1 is Ferarri (surprise surprise). This race also helped Ferarri since M. Schumacher was 35 points behind the current F1 leader, who also did not race Sunday.

There is talk (and I hope they do this) that the remaining 9 teams are going to break off of F1 in 2008 and form another racing league.

 
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i don't think its good to race if its not safe. they may as well do it on the street cause its the same danger with unknown tires. my 2 pennies.

 
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This is why i, and many other people, hate Ferraris F1 team. The michelin teams were willing to race with a penaltiy or no points at all if they allowed them to either change the tires or put a chicane in, and Ferrari and their *** pals (FIA) still wouldn't do it. They could have run the race, Ferrari scoring just as many points as they did, but with a full grid. The politics in F1 really have to stop.

I almost died laughing when poor Monterio was jumping up and down on the podium getting ready to spray champane and Shumacher and Barichello just walked off, it was way to funny.

I really hope this makes them look back at the one tire rule, because it is way to dangerous to force a team to run 1 set of tires all weekend.

 
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hehe. actually there is a "track" where they are racing on public/city streets. (shut down for the race of course)

monaco
http://www.formula1.com/race/circuitmap/737.html

 
Rep Power: 381

Ya know, I dont really watch F1 any more any way.... Seen way too many races start and Finish in the exact same order. I like watching the more "amature" racing now, such as the Star Mazda series and the like.

 
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GAYEST THING EVER!!!!

I drove 10 hours from baltimore to indianapolis to see the damn race and this **** happens! The cars do the parade lap and then finally let everyone know the race is going to be gay when they pull into the pits and their garages.

I was down at turn 1 and people were throwing beer cans onto the course, it was that bad. I think the race shouldve been postpoined or the michelin teams shouldve been allowed to compromise.

AARRRGH I HATE THE FIA!!!

 
Rep Power: 331

FIA sucks and Ferrari is a tool..

 
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I'm not a ferrari fan, but I mostly blame Michelin for this mess, I hate the stupid one tire rule, but after Kimi's crash in the European GP, Michelin got warned about using tires on the limit, and the rule says they have to take 2 compounds one soft and one hard for each team, obviously the hard one underperforms, but stupid french f*cks Michelin didn't say why they didn't use their hard coumpound, they have 7 teams with track data about their tyres and they couldn't realize what happened to their tires, or maybe they just knew their compund were too soft and didn't want to compromise and warned the teams or should I say, forced the teams not to race and suggested a bunch of stupid ideas, like a race without points awarded to michelin runners, but that's just as crappy as watching the ferrari's run alone, this all Michelin fault, they know the track surface is hard on the left rear... and they couldn't bring special spec tires for that race... Last year, Ralphie had that huge shunt on the turn 13, and Alonso's tire blew also inexplicably, so it's not a "since we have new tires that should last all race we didn't knew this was going to happened" this has happened to them before and they didn't adapt... I hope Michelin pays for this...

 
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oh yeah, and the silly chicane, why should the bridgestone runners have to use the chicane, if they didn't have that tire problem, they brought the adequate compound for the race, it just wouldn't be fair to them, since their car were tuned for a long straight and not for a chicane afecting wind loads, gear ratios, etc., there was a suggestion about running trought turn 13 with a speed limit, but the teams didn't agree with it, since they would just loose too much time, it's just the same as using an underperforming hard compound, and we're back on tires, MICHELIN SUCKS!!!!!!!

I hate the rules, I hate what FIA has done to the sport, but this mess is ALL Michelin fault

 
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i hear the FIA loves the ****

 
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well thats some ****ed up bullshit.

 
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I completely agree with you. I definitely think it isn't fair for the Bridgestone runners if the chicane were built on turn 13. I personally blame Michelin more than FIA.

 
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This is not michelin's fault. Their tires apparently had some type of "flaw" in them, and the sidewalls were failing. The one tire set rule is the dumbest rule in the history of the FIA. This sport is a science, based on so many different things. The FIA took away part of that science and made it their own personal gambling game by forcing engineers to pick tire compounds BEFORE they even get to the track.

Michelin made a SMART move by telling the drivers it was unsafe to drive on those tires. I would rather they do that, than not make that recommendation and get someone killed.

The rule is dumb, and the FIA is to blame. They are gambling with people's lives.

 
Rep Power: 289

fia shouldnt be in america! its like nascar goin to turkey. it just shouldnt be done fia is europeans game

 
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but we've had 8 races of the season so far and no inexplicably tire failure except for bridgestone at the beginning of the season which was unsafe, but they didn't bitch about it... and like I said before, 7 teams supplying track data and Michelin still doesn't know why the tires would only last no more than 10 laps, basicly... they pushed the envelope too far and the bank curve of indy owned them... they didn't bring the proper equipment and caused all this mess

 
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ferrari did nothing wrong. they had no problems with tires why did they have to go through the chicane? michelin teams just had to go slower. barichello did in bahrain, and schumi in spain... or change their tires every 10 laps like mosley proposed...they wouldn't have gotten penalized for it...furthermore, the chicane could have been even more dangerous (30 minutes b4 the race)....the car set ups are different, gear ratios etc...don't blame the fia, blame the michelin team bosses...

 
Rep Power: 400

yeah the reason they didn't know why the tires wouldn't last is because there was a defect with that batch of rubber.

the FIA is to blame with their lame *** tire rule. period.

 
Rep Power: 400

i still can't believe how people can blame michelin. again, it could happen to bridgestone just as easily. you can't help if a bad batch of rubber causes failures. it's a safety issue. NOT a fairness issue. SAFETY! geez. and i gaurantee if ferarri had the same thing happen and they went crying to the FIA about it, they would re-write the rules on the spot.

 
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it's a cheeky situations, but i agree...the 1 tire per weekend rule is plain stupid...and dangerous...

 
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here's what mosley said on bbc:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/spo...16_16x9_nb.asx