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Originally Posted by cookie_365
You blame Ferrari for the other teams turning up without adequate equipment?
Ferrari turned up with a set of tyres that worked, and beat everyone who wanted to race against them. If the Michelin teams chose not to race, that's their decision, their responsibility, and no one elses. Not Ferraris, not Bernie Ecclestone's: theirs.
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I think Ferrari are guilty of not understanding what the game is about...the clue is in the word motorsport. They behaved, although within the rules, in a most unsportsmanlike manner, and I was unhappy at Jordan making a last minute change of mind to take part...presumably under some sort the veiled threat from the FIA. As Minardi are so close to Jordan in the rankings, they had little choice but to compete too.
Personally I think this situation has the potential to rock F1 to the core, perhaps terminally. Hopefully an awful lot of mediation will be taking place right now to prevent that.
I picked up this post from a professional photographer who attends motorsport meetings...interesting reading, especially the bit about Bridgestone being tipped off about the dreadful diamondcut track surface:
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An alternate design of the tire was sent to Indianapolis from France overnight and was tested. Unfortunately, this alternate tire would last longer, but would not last long enough. There was no time to redesign a tire structure, manufacture it, and have it shipped from France to the USA overnight and therefore a request was send to Mosley and Co (FIA) to attempt to mend the situation with a chicane that would be placed in the straight. This would slow the cars down and would reduce structural load on the joint of the belt and sidewall. The host(Indy), nine of ten teams, excluding Ferrari (as usual), agreed to this proposal. Max Mosley decided that there would be no compromise. The F1 drivers were told to park their cars by team officials, many drivers were very upset about this. If you don't know, the decision to drive isn't really up to the drivers. Due to obvious and very serious safety reasons, all Michelin runners were recommended by Michelin to not participate due to a faulty product. Minardi and Jordan/Midland F1 had also agreed not to run with the Michelin runners in their support. At the last minute, Jordan/Midland F1 decided to go against their earlier promise and compete in the race. Due to the position of Jordan and Minardi, Stoddart was forced to also go against his promise, there is no way they could let Jordan/Midland get away with that many point and Minardi with none.
This is not the first time there has been a tire issue at Indy after the resurfacing, both Nascar and IRL were forced to make drastic changes to their tires after experiencing damage and unusual wear of the tires. Firestone was able to convey this information to sister Bridgestone where a new tire was developed for this track specifically. Unfortunately, Michelin was kept out of the circle of information.
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