Official F1/Motorsport thread

[VR46]

I've been lucky enough to see Moto GP races at Monza, Nurburgring, Hockenheim & Assen (plus the UK tracks), all were great tbh, only seen F1 at Silverstone, however (by coincidence) did see the two seater McLaren doing a few laps at Snetterton about 6 years ago, was on the pit wall and could feel the pressure on your chest as it passed by.

[Richard.John]

No, they're expected to bring two tyre types, and they did. Both tyre compounds had the same problem, however, and the mooted backup would have been a third set, banned under the regs.

The teams made it pretty clear that their contracts with Michelin didn't allow them to run - after all, if some of them had they they would have automatically leapt qualifying position on those that pitted earlier; someone would have done it for that reason alone.

Well, I am only going on what I read from the FIA but according to Charlie Whiting they were in breach of the regulations for not providing a backup, as quoted from the FIA response to Michelin. I could be mistaken of course but that is what I was alluding to.

That the teams you supply are not in possession of such a tyre will also be a matter for the FIA to consider in due course under Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.

[Richard.John]

I did the Austrian GP a couple of years ago (the Schumacher and Barrichello farce). That was interesting - everyone went mental when he let him through at the finish!

Was a quality weekend though and i recommend it to anyone. The race seemed to just fly by.

Exactly. You spend hours sitting on a grass bank, just for the race to fly by.
That is my memory of Silverstone anyway. And I got terribly sunburned as well.

[Marmite]

Exactly. You spend hours sitting on a grass bank, just for the race to fly by.
That is my memory of Silverstone anyway. And I got terribly sunburned as well.

Yeah i had some serious burning as well! Still, massive pretzels, beer, and fast cars - nice combo.

[Darwock]

Well, I am only going on what I read from the FIA but according to Charlie Whiting they were in breach of the regulations for not providing a backup, as quoted from the FIA response to Michelin. I could be mistaken of course but that is what I was alluding to.

That the teams you supply are not in possession of such a tyre will also be a matter for the FIA to consider in due course under Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.

The issue there is that the 2nd set is supposed to be a 'safe' set and yet Michelin were saying they didn't have that. So yeah, they failed to provide adequate equipment, which is their duty.

It's interesting that the charge of not having suitable equipment has been levelled against the teams first and foremost though...

[Richard.John]

OK, that clears it up.

[Morcerf]

I also feel its a bit harsh on Michelin since they weren't able to test on the new surface at Indy, whereas Bridgestone had data through their Firestone part of the company.

Someone should have had the foresight to give both tyre companies data on the new surface and not just one of them!

[Richard.John]

Love him or loathe him, James Allen has written an excellent article on the tyre debacle over at ITV's site. He makes a good point about BAR, as we may have forgotten that they are already in the FIA's sights due to the hidden fuel tank fiasco.

http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?T...en&PO_ID=33214

[jon bda]

Love him or loathe him, James Allen has written an excellent article on the tyre debacle over at ITV's site. He makes a good point about BAR, as we may have forgotten that they are already in the FIA's sights due to the hidden fuel tank fiasco.

http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?T...en&PO_ID=33214

Thats a good read...

[Richard.John]

It is indeed, probably the best response I have read so far.

[Morcerf]

Really interesting read here - full account of the Indy weekend from Paul Stoddart :

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=24926

Admittedly, he will be rather biased, but if what he says is true then it certainly seems the blame lies with Max Mosely.

[Darwock]

Try reading James Allen's piece instead. Paul Stoddart has gone waaayyyy down in my estimation over this affair... he's nothing but a whinging, interfering c*&t who's always first to talk to the cameras about something that doesn't concern him, and he also appears to now be the official GPWC whipping boy. As if Renault/BMW/Mercedes are going to look after Minardi any better than the FIA/Bernie have!!

I liked him for (eventually) admitting it wasn't Jean Todt, but he's missed the point (or sucking up to someone) by blaming the FIA.

Did you notice that small sentence 'another option of pitting every 10 laps was dismissed'.. no explanation as to why, Paul? The chicane is the only sensible solution despite being a daft, and unsporting solution?

[Richard.John]

Some breaking news for you. It has been announced that BMW have, as rumoured, bought out Sauber and are going to run as a single unit from 2006.
Poor Frank, looks like he may have to pay for his engines from now on.

[MarkyB]

i havent read too much into what happened at indy particularily, but werent some teams happy to race, wasn't mclaren quoted as being happy with their tires and general set up before qualifying?

the whole thing was a joke really, i know it would have broken regulations, but shouldn't the FIA have allowed Mich to have brought some other tyres in that they reckoned were safe, teams may have complained about it, but that woulda been a better end result than the "race" that they did have, and hell, they might have had a US grand Prix next year still

[Darwock]

Here's the thing - the FIA *did* allow them to change tyres. In fact they suggested it. They were allowed to either switch to a brand new set, or to change tyres regularly throughout the race to keep them safe. They would have to have been penalised for breaking the rules if they did, otherwise everybody would be using qualifying tyres in future, but they could have raced. Do not believe all the PR spin being punted out by the guilty teams that they were given no options.