American Grand Prix – Race

June 19, 2005 by paul
Filed under: Uncategorized

So between Ferrari and the FIA, it looks like the Michelin-shod cars now have the choice between slowing for the final turn (i.e. where they need major speed for the main straight), changing tyres and getting an unknown penalty, or risking a major accident and putting their driver, the marshalls and spectators at risk. [more]

If it wasn’t such a serious safety concern, I’d say that the FIA are right and that it’s down to the manufacturers to ensure their components work correctly, but it’s crazy to insist they either race on dangerous tyres or suffer an unknown penalty which could include disqualification. Crazy!

Michelin have told the teams using their tyres ~~NOT to take Turn 13 at full speed~~ NOT to race unless there’s a chicane added between Turns 12 and 13.

13:37 – Only Ferrari and Jordan have taken to the track so far – both are Bridgestone teams.

13:39 – Speed are talking to Sam Michaels (Williams) and he’s reiterated that 9 of the 10 teams (i.e. everyone except Ferrari) have said they will not race unless there’s a chicane.

13:41 – Both McLaren cars are heading for the track … there’s no chicane, so what’s been decided?

13:43 – Renault, Toyota, BAR are now on the grid too.

13:46 – Some American jingoism over the tannoy – blah, blah, Iraqi Freedom, blah barf!

13:53 – Bernie, the poison dwarf, is on the grid visibly telling Paul Stoddart and others the way it’s going to be. Meanwhile the rumour is that the Michelin-shod teams will pit and retire at the end of the first lap.

Time for the formation lap – what will happen?

That’s NK’s engine going back, wasn’t it?

Pit-car radio for DC: “if it’s down to me, I want to race” – of course.

That’s the Michelin guys pitting! JT, KR, JB, GF, FA, TS, MW, FM, JM, JV, RZ, CK, NH, DC all pit. Only MS, RB, TM, CA, NK and PF start – what a farce!

There’s just 6 cars (the Bridgestone-shod cars: Ferrari, Jordan & Minardi) take the lights … and the “race” starts.

01/73: MS, RB, TM, CA, NK, PF. One of the Jordans is smoking – I think NK is out soon.

03: All the Michelin teams are now shown as retired.

04: Pat Symonds (Engineering Director, Renault) is saying it’s such a sad day – he’s right, the FIA should not have forced the teams to do this.

05: Alastair Gibson (Chief Mechanic, BAR) – very diplomatic when the Speed guy asks him why there was no compromise – well done.

06: The “fans” are throwing rubbish on the track – that’s just brainless and dangerous – I understand their frustration (we ALL want to see a race) but throwing stuff is going to kill someone!

I’m not going to bother with my usual race notes because this isn’t a race. BBC have abandoned their live updates too – one update after 10 minutes of “racing” is just to say that RB ran over a water bottle.

13/73: Ron Dennis – “we tried everything to convince the governing body to put in a chicane … and they catagorically refused. … We had to think about the safety of our drivers.” (Note: the circuit people said they had no problem putting in a chicane. Only the FIA objected, and they have the final say.)

Well done Bernie – you make no secret that you want Ferrari to win, and you’ve made that they will. I hope you’re happy.

24/73: DC says there had to be a solution, even if it meant giving the Bridgestone cars all the points.
Red+yellow flags (“slippery surface”, not necessarily oil) at Turn 1 – more rubbish on the track?

25: RB pits – his front right looks pretty bad – wouldn’t it be funny if they had to change a tyre and were then penalised.

26: MS pits too – very long look at the rear tyres but no change. What was that they pulled out from the rear-left? The commentator speculated it was a squashed beer can! (It’s a tyre groove depth guage.)

The crowds have almost completely gone – I’m sure there’ll be a class action with people wanting their money back … and I don’t blame them.

33/73: CA stalled it after a long look by the Bridgestone engineers.

(The community is fairly lively with people commenting on the ~~race~~ farce).

Bernie apparently has been on local (US) TV saying it wasn’t his decision and that the fans were cheated out of a race by the Michelin teams!

47/73: NK’s rear left looks a bit bald
Speed commentator just said that Bernie has left the circuit … but apparently a few fans told him what they think before he escaped!

52/73: MS comes out of the pit lane and almost T-bones RB – fortunately RB reacted in time and moves out of his team”mate”s way, across the grass.

A Speed commentator says that MS’s move was dangerous and should be investigated by the stewards … yeah, sure – what planet is he on? It’s MS in a Ferrari – there’s no way he’ll be penalised!

Speed are speculating “what if it was Bridgestone that had a tyre problem?” – he thinks no-one would care. I don’t agree – if Bridgestone told Ferrari (and Jordan & Minardi, but who cares about them?) not to race, Bernie would have made sure they could! I suspect most of the fans are there to see Ferrari, so to not have them race would hit him where it hurts – in the wallet – so he would have made sure they could.

Just 10 exciting laps left: MS leads RB by 2.4s; RB-TM ~61s; TM-NK ~35s; NK-CA ~70s; CA-PF ~11s. Only 3 cars are on the lead lap.

70/73: MS and RB lap TM, so only the Ferraris are on the lead lap; the Jordans are both 1 lap down, and the Minardis are 2 laps down.

Provisional results:

M. Schumacher (Ferrari)
R. Barrichello (Ferrari)
T. Monteiro (Jordan)
N. Karthikeyan (Jordan)
C. Albers (Minardi)
P. Friesacher (Minardi)

All 14 Michelin-shod cars are unclassified.

Apparently the Ferrari team didn’t go to the pit wall to see MS win, and they’re not talking to the press.

The “fans” are throwing stuff and booing.

Listening in to the chat before the podium – there will be no presenters from the circuit!

Monteiro enjoying himself on the podium but at least the Ferrari guys had the sense to slope off without spraying the champagne.

The interviews are going to be interesting.

MS: “Bit of a strange Grand Prix.” “Bottles and beer in the first corner.”
RB: (re: MS exiting pits) “I thought I had it covered.” “A sad race.”
TM: (First ever Portuguese driver on the podium) “A very wierd situation.” “It’s still a podium.”

So now we wait for the fallout – Bernie will have to make someone suffer, but will it be Michelin (thrown out – back to a single supplier) or the 7 teams (for daring to disobey Bernie’s instruction to race) … or both?

(The fiasco has even made it on to Fark.com!)

Update: Joint statement from the Michelin teams – “After final data from Michelin became available at 06.30 on Sunday morning it became clear that Michelin were not able to guarantee the safety of the drivers. Numerous discussions and meetings took place to find a safe solution to the problem. Every possibility for the race to go ahead in a safe manner was explored. The only practical solution was for a chicane to be installed prior to Turn 13 and nine of the teams were prepared to run under these conditions even forgoing championship points or by allowing non-Michelin teams to take top positions on the grid. Unfortunately all proposals were rejected by the FIA. Safety is always the first concern of any team and the FIA. Regrettably the teams were obliged to follow Michelin’s requirements not to race.”

Next race: France in two weeks. [F1 calendar, 2005]