SlicksAgain

[QUOTE=ianl,Jun 21 2005, 01:09 PM] 'Your tyre supplier' should have done their job properly - fine, bring a marginal tyre. but for

ianl

Absolutely correct, and a point which, IMHO, hasn't received anything like the 'press' it ought to have.

Disgraceful behaviour from the cheese-eating-surrender-monkeys.

Dracoro

I wonder if any, and how many, of the teams will make Bridgestone their tyre provider?

Do the teams instruct Michelin to bring 2nd set of tyres or is it something that Michelin decide to do. If it's the former, then the teams will be in trouble. If the latter then I suspect Michelin's future in F1 will be in doubt.

Put it in a different context. Your S2000 breaks down due to a faulty battery. Honda would not turn to you the customer and say 'sorry, not our fault, it's down to the battery manufacturer'. Course they wouldn't, they'd replace it and take the battery issue up with their suppliers, changing supplier if need be.

rmotegi

"Do the teams instruct Michelin to bring 2nd set of tyres or is it something that Michelin decide to do. If it's the former, then the teams will be in trouble. If the latter then I suspect Michelin's future in F1 will be in doubt."

Its a key issue.

Who is responsible for bringing the second set of 'safe spec' tyres?

Michelin, or the teams?

Perhaps the FIA are gunning for the teams because they have all signed up directly to the FIAs rules - in this sense the FIA can be judge and jury.

Perhaps it is a greyer area to prosecute Michelin.

But on the face of it, it seems more reasonable to suggest that Michelin were the real culprits.

And if they go for the teams doesn't it accelerate the formation of the GPWC?

Is someone in the FIA not thinking straight?

Again?

Moonie

We're seing the same intransigence witnessed at the weekend. In engineering, there are no absolute certainties when it comes to cutting edge performance, which is why all manufacturers test their product to destruction. Michelin simply weren't able to do this, until the practice session. It was their feck-up from a design/engineering perspective, but FIA's feck-up when they decide that there are rules of law that must come before any sporting considerations. There was a race alternative, fair to all involved, and they chose to ignore it and pick a war.

In a sport where 100th's of a second mean the difference between winning and losing, there will ALWAYS be engineering skrew-ups that risk lives; the foreseeable and the unforeseeable. The latter only come to light through testing. Michelin had no option but to say that the tyres the teams had chosen 'might have a problem that was dangerous'.

At the end of the day it was FIA's responsibility to find a solution and they were incapable. this is the typical managerial response to incompetence: blame anybody and everybody else, whilst hiding behind every 'legal argument' and deferring responsibility while they take their fat bonuses.

Bleah!

ianl

Undoubtably true.

But that is why there is a clear option to bring a more conservative back-up tyre. Something Michelin chose not to bother to do when visiting a track where no testing takes place, has been resurfaced since they last raced there and has a very fast banked corner, the likes of which F1 cars see nowhere else.

lovegroova

I heard an interesting intervew with one of the Jordan senior management before the race on 5 Live (who provided far better information than the ITV crew).

The Jordan guy was railing against Michelin and their teams due to the fact they had essentially been flouting the rules all season by bringing two types of 'fast tyre' to each race, rather than one fast, and one safe tyre, and thus had acheived an advantage over the Bridgestone runners.

His view was this strategy had been found out, and they would have to pay.

My view is that the Michelin teams tried to force the issue and the FIA and Ferrari wouldn't back down, so the teams threw their toys out of the pram which made the FIA and, to a lesser degree, Ferrari, look like spoilsports.

Pretty much the whole of F1 is responsible for this, with the surprising exception of Bernie Ecclestone who, it seems, had very little control over the situation.

moor deybe

That assessment sounds spot on. Until now it sounded like Michelin had only brought one type of tyre rather than two that were both not up to the job.

They should all be on the same tyre anyway, I don't give a damn about which tyre is better Bridgestone or Michelin I want to see who is the better driver, but I suppose that isn't what Formula One was ever about really, its a team event, so its engine makers v engine makers, aero dynamisists v each and ultimately Bridgeston v Michelin.

The Michelin teams should have done a few laps and come in when their tyre monitors showed that the tyres were about to pop. It would have created just as big a stink, but they may have avoided the kangaroo court they're about to find themselves in

rahula

I can see the difficulty the teams and FIA were facing now. FIA suggested a slower speed which they would monitor and punish any drivers over than speed to keep things safe and teams said no. They didn't bring a second set of tyres and the ones they proposed would have meant that they were not going to be able to use them without penalties as they did use them during FP or quali. Does the FIA then risk letting them go out but only if the track is changed? I don't think that is fair to the Bridgestone runners. FIA then also suggested that each team could perhaps bring in the cars every 10 laps which really is a pointless suggestion. all in all there really was no solution to this problem.

You can't ask teams to race but get no points, what is the point in that? We as fans would have to wait to find out who actually got any points and how they would be share out amongst the BR runners and what position would they start the next quali. It would be as fig a farce as it is now. Michelin screwed up big IMO and there is no way out of it.

simonprelude

TBH I think the FIA have to have a go at the teams, it is then the teams responsibility to have a go at Michelin.

After all Michelin are the teams customer, not the FIA customer aren't they ??