US F1 Fiasco
I was about to wait until Monday evening to watch the replay on Astro as the Live broadcast was at 2am (cannot afford to come to work with just 3 hours of sleep). However, a colleague of mine told me to save my time for better activities as it is "very funny" and not worth the time.
I finally gave up and opened my usual F1 site to check out what is the "funny thing" behind the Indy F1 race. It was then I realized that it was indeed funny that only 6 out of 20 cars started and finished the race as the rest did not participate due to safety concerns of their Michelin tyres. Fans, organizers, broadcasters and betting companies were fuming at the teams that pulled out last minute without giving them any reason for the fiasco (not to mention refund for the tickets which cost about USD100).
Reading further, it seems that it started when Ralf Schumacher crashed his Toyota during a practice session due to a tyre failure. The incident lead to a further investigation by Michelin's engineers and found out that their tyres were not capable of running a full race on the Indy's track surface. Hence, they have go through all the trouble of complaining to the FIA (including installing a chicane to slow down cars at turn 13), or else Michelin will advise the teams that they supplied (7 out of 10 that is) not to participate in the GP as they could not guarantee their safety.
FIA (the regulatory body of motor racing) reject the proposal of changing the layout of the Indy circuit just because it would be unfair to other teams who have brought the right equipment to the race. Michelin throws the blame back to FIA for refusing to adhere to their proposals although 9 out of 10 teams agreed to it (Ferrari did not agree as their tyres were supplied by Bridgestone).
Now, many of the angry parties are planning law suits against the F1 organizers pertaining to the fiasco.
In my view, FIA is correct to uphold the rules and regulations governing F1. Rules are not supposed to be bent just because some teams failed to bring the necessary equipments to the race. I did not see Bridgestone-based team requesting for any of the rules be bent when they fail to win anything prior to the US-GP. I wonder if the affirmative action phenomena are spreading to the international arena.
I also wonder: What if a Malaysian sponsored team were to enter F1 now? Will they be asking for a 2-lap handicap for all the races?
I finally gave up and opened my usual F1 site to check out what is the "funny thing" behind the Indy F1 race. It was then I realized that it was indeed funny that only 6 out of 20 cars started and finished the race as the rest did not participate due to safety concerns of their Michelin tyres. Fans, organizers, broadcasters and betting companies were fuming at the teams that pulled out last minute without giving them any reason for the fiasco (not to mention refund for the tickets which cost about USD100).
Reading further, it seems that it started when Ralf Schumacher crashed his Toyota during a practice session due to a tyre failure. The incident lead to a further investigation by Michelin's engineers and found out that their tyres were not capable of running a full race on the Indy's track surface. Hence, they have go through all the trouble of complaining to the FIA (including installing a chicane to slow down cars at turn 13), or else Michelin will advise the teams that they supplied (7 out of 10 that is) not to participate in the GP as they could not guarantee their safety.
FIA (the regulatory body of motor racing) reject the proposal of changing the layout of the Indy circuit just because it would be unfair to other teams who have brought the right equipment to the race. Michelin throws the blame back to FIA for refusing to adhere to their proposals although 9 out of 10 teams agreed to it (Ferrari did not agree as their tyres were supplied by Bridgestone).
Now, many of the angry parties are planning law suits against the F1 organizers pertaining to the fiasco.
In my view, FIA is correct to uphold the rules and regulations governing F1. Rules are not supposed to be bent just because some teams failed to bring the necessary equipments to the race. I did not see Bridgestone-based team requesting for any of the rules be bent when they fail to win anything prior to the US-GP. I wonder if the affirmative action phenomena are spreading to the international arena.
I also wonder: What if a Malaysian sponsored team were to enter F1 now? Will they be asking for a 2-lap handicap for all the races?
posted by Egghead at
10:42 AM
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