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I think that, as proven above, the level of grip was pretty much public information.

And the tires that they flew in were, it is my understanding, subject to a warning that dirvers must slow down or similar failure could result.

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Rich
http://www.v8mongrel.com/

I think that the track failed. The right side tires that showed "unusual wear" correspond to the left side tires of F1 cars that failed. If you get a chance, check out Speed and look at the outside tires of the Bridgestone shod competitors. They're conical.

Bernie has shown his disregard for drivers' safety yet again. Kimi should have been able to pit when his right front tire went down with a couple of laps to go. Instead, because of the rules structure in place, he had to risk his life to try to maintain his position. What happened? His suspension failed, and the tethered tire nicely bounced on his front facia as he entered a gravel pit.

Shameful on the part of an organization that provides a SPECTATOR SPORT.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

I've seen Top Gun, so I know how to fly an F-14.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

The resurfacing of the track may not have been good, however, it was a condition that Michelin should have been able to deal with. And, with evidence of failures in other series, if they thought there was an issue, bring it the FIA. Considering that one of their tires failed last year and injured a driver, you'd think that the company that now claims it made this decision based on safety as they do every other, would have said something. But they did not.

On the Kimi deal, I do not see an easy solution. If you let him pit because he flat spotted a tire, what is to stop a mysterious rask of bad flatspots from occuring while drivers come in to pit for fuel? And a penalty won't work either. If you take the driver out of a points paying position with the penalty, he won't come in and will take the same risk Kimi took. Go back to unlimited tire changes? I have no problem with that, but you cannot make that change in the middle of a race.

And it was not Bernie who showed disregard for driver safety, it was Michelin. They built the unsafe tire, not Bernie. What did he do that was unsafe? Not put in a chicane without certification? Allow a company to supply a tire that they assure you is not bad when they just told you the other one is?

Yes, the spectators got the shaft. As I said before, a lot of people made a lot of bad decisions. But the fundamental fault lies with Michelin.

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Rich
http://www.v8mongrel.com/

Not quite. Why did this problem happen when the past two races on the circuit showed problems? You should learn from the problems of others. You can be sure that if Michelin had been concerned about this before the race, we would know about it now. But we don't, because they weren't. They had this type of failure last year. If there are reports that the track has changed to make tire failure more likely, and if, as they now claim, safety is Michelin's number 1 priority, you'd think they'dsay something before the race was run.

But instead, they rolled the dice, play with the safety of the drivers and they lost. For that, they should be punished.

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Rich
http://www.v8mongrel.com/

They did. But is it suprising that it happend?

What are the regulations for F1 tires? I don't know, but I suspect that it is pretty vague as to longevity, safety, etc. It probably is more of a technical regulation (X number of groves, X maximum width, etc.). As far as safety and longevity, I wouldn’t doubt if it just boils down to “they need to last the length of the race”. I say that both Bridgestone and Michelin are both walking on the edge of a razor. Michelin fell off and dragged nearly everyone with them.

They talked about voluntarily reducing speeds through Turn 13. Some type of gentleman’s agreement or something (no chicane). You KNOW that once the race was going, that people would be passing and making up time by going faster and faster through Turn 13. Everyone agreed that this idea was absurd. It couldn’t work. The position a tire manufacture (Bridgestone or Michelin) is in is the same as a driver in the scenario above. Make your tire safe, long lasting AND fast. Telling them to sacrifice speed and longevity to increase safety is just crazy if it is not regulated correctly. The competitive nature of this is going to cause them to still push the limit no matter what the track conditions are.

When you drive, who sets the “safety” factor. How hard to you push? Do you drive at 9/10ths, 10/10ths or 11/10ths. Like a driver, the engineers have to decide how aggressive they will be with their designs. Again, they walk that fine line on the design side. They are designing 10/10ths tires. That is their target. But they screwed up. They pushed just a little to hard. Just as someone can “think” they have it under control, they get into a corner at the limit and there end up being some oil or liquid down (that they didn’t plan for) and they go off. This is where Michelin had their “off”.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Not surprising that it happened, but in the way that it did. A tire has to last a full race, by the rules. Yet Michelin showed up with a tire that by their own admission couldn't be trusted beyond ten laps. That, to me, is stunning failure that approaches total incompetence.

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Rich
http://www.v8mongrel.com/

Hopefully this will be a wake up call for a number of people and companies. I just hope something good comes from it all.

I still think we need a single tire supplier.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

I am also hopefully, although I am not counting on it. No one yet has shown the capacity to make a decision regarding this situation that is anything other than short sighted. Although it pains me to say it but it gives you an idea of what kind of cluster we are talking about, Tony George is perhaps the most reasonable person involved.

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Rich
http://www.v8mongrel.com/

Would you have Michelin go down the road and use Hoosier's facilities at the last minute? Even then, Bernie wouldn't have let them use the tire.

Management failed to address a safety concern. Period.

When the first tire test of a new track, which after all it was, fails during an open practice, Michelin stepped up and took the heat. F1 didn't adjust accordingly, and fans got screwed.

But at least Michael got another win.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Grand Prix World Championship start up!

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

No, I would have Michelin get they heads out of their butts and not have this situation come about in the first place. A ten lap tire is not even close. The fact that the past two races at the speedway have caused tire problems should have alerted them to something. The fact that hey had a tire fail this way last year should have put up a red flag. But with all this going down, we hear that they went in 'business as usual'. No doubt they did the right thing by pulling the tires and telling teams they weren't safe. But that is like punching someone and expecting sorry to make it all better. It doesn't. They screwed up and screwed everyone.

Did the FIA do the right thing for the fans? No, they did not. Like I said before, lots of bad decisions were made. But what should they have done? Penalize those running Bridgestones by letting the Michelin teams change tires? Change the track in a way that hasn't been tested? I am not sure there was a good way out of this huge problem that MICHELIN CREATED!

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Rich
http://www.v8mongrel.com/

I don't follow this crap close enough to know, but were those teams forced to buy Michelin tires in the first place? If the Michelins fell apart there last year, it looks like the teams should've been the ones to have learned a lesson.

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In need of car.

The problem is that the teams really have no choice. Bridgestone is the only alternative, and a couple seasons ago, they made it abundantly clear that they made tires how Ferrari wanted and everyone else was to adapt to that.

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Rich
http://www.v8mongrel.com/

I don't remember, wasn't 2004 when it rained and the Bridgestone wet compound beat the snot out of Michelin's similar one?

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

And yet Bridgestone can produce a tire that will last more than 10 laps. Maybe Ferrari has a pretty decent set of standards?

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In need of car.