Fans Upset With Grand Prix Fiasco

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[GulliverSwift]

Sunday's events at the track left race fans from around the world shocked and angry.

News 8 talked to dozens of people and the common theme was that they may have came here as die-hard F-1 fans but they left not wanting to ever watch another race again.

Thousands of other fans shared that sentiment and were not shy about expressing their anger.

Most fans blamed the fiasco on F-1 rules, others on the company responsible for the faulty tires.

One fan explained his sentiment, "I drove all the way from Nashville with my boy and this is a terrible, terrible travesty. And we won't be coming back, renewing anything, and we're done with formula One."

Swat teams, sheriff's deputies, and dozens of state police were all on hand after the race started with plans in place in the event of a riot. Fortunately, fans staged non-violent protests.

Many were chanting, "Refund! Refund! Refund! Refund!" While others lined up outside the speedway administration building demanding refunds, "Somebody has to pay for the time and the money that we have spent. Some people have flown from around the world just to see this race and Americans as well," an outraged fan told News 8.

Others returned memorabilia for a sport they say they love no longer, "I want to return this t-shirt. I want my money back for it. I don't want to support F-1 anymore. This is a joke. This is a joke," one fan said.

Another fan agreed, "If they can't do the right thing, then cancel the race. Don't bring people in for something like this. This is stupid."

As for the future of F-1 racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway? Fans say don't hold your breath. Some fans think that after this contract's run out, it will not be here. They say next year's the last year and they think attendance will be down because of Sunday's events.

Speedway officials say no word yet on whether fans will get ticket refunds but one fan said even if that happens he's still never coming back

[lOKKI]

"I've read several news accounts and still do not know what happened, this is the poorest reporting I've read in a long time, it's simply horrid journalism"

What happened is pretty simple (in Formula 1 terms).

Teams have contracts with one of two tire makers -Bridgestone or Michelin.

F1 has rules that you have to use the same tires in the race that you used for qualifying. Michelin's tire design failed in qualifying and Michelin deemed them unsafe. Michelin told their teams not to race on the unsafe tires.
F1 wouldn't allow Michelin to change tire designs after qualifying was done. Michelin offered to fly in different tires, but F1 refused to allow it.

The Michelin teams wanted the track slowed, so they could race safely. F1 refused to do that.

The teams wanted the race canceled. F1 took a vote of the teams. Ferrari ( On Bridgestones) refused to agree to that. Said the other teams knew the rules, and now they wanted to change them at the last second. Why should Ferrari pay for the other teams choice of the wrong tires?

So, no compromise was reached. Most teams are contracted to Michelin. Therefore they couldn't race safely. Therefore they didn't start. Only the three teams on Bridgestones ran the 'race'.

Oh, and uh, nobody told the fans anything. They just found out through word-of-mouth, and not till the 14 cars on Michelin's did one circuit of the track and pulled off.

F1 rules have been a mess for a decade now. I used to be amused, but now I'm just disgusted.

[Lowell]

This could have been averted by simply relaxing the start rules. Let the teams start on the new tires that were flown in to replace the questionable tires. Then if these tires show a competitive advantage say 1/10 of a second per lap do the math and figure out who won. They should have told the teams that just because you finished first doesn't mean you won they need to look at the times. Brig stone didn't have a change to change compounds and re manufacture tires to fit the course better so this seemed to me to be the most fair option.
TEAMS MUST START THE RACE WITH TIRES THEY QUALIFIED ON. They refused to change that rule for one race. Race timing and scoring had two days of data to know what the average times were on these tires. If the new tires had shown an advantage they could have made an adjustment.

[MamaB]

I have had them on my Hondas for many years and have never had any trouble with them. This will not stop us from buying them.

[Hi Heels]

Ditto. The journalist assumed the reader knew what was going on at the event. A big snafu in journalism. BUT, these days it'll probably win an award....

[American Vet Repairman]

Formula races are boring anyway. NASCAR is king.

[Melas]

Riots? This is really important enough to these people to riot? And we wonder what's wrong with this country......

[Publius Valerius]

Why should you change the rules and penalize the teams that actually brought the right tires?

Teams are allowed to bring backup tires in case the inital set does not function properly. Why didn't Michelin supply the teams with backup tires? Moreover, as Derek Daly said during the race, the IMS has been here since 1909. You'd think Michelin would have had plenty of time to make a tire that could go around the track 73 times.

On top of that, there was nothing preventing the Michelin teams from racing on the new tires flown in from France on Saturday--there just would have been a penalty from FIA for doing so. Why didn't the teams run on the new tires and take the penalty?

It's not FIA's fault. The rules are there for everyone to understand. It's not Bridgestone's problem (or Ferrari's) that Michelin didn't build a tire that could run at Indy.

It sucks for the fans, it sucks for Indy, and it sucks for the IMS, but change the rules? No way. The teams had plenty of options and chose not to take them.

[Pylot]

Typical F1 cluster fudge.

I don't buy Michelins anyway.

There has been a longstanding hatred of the US by the F1 crowd, Bernie in particular. Tony George had to go through some serious hoops to land the contract in the first place. Turn out has never been spectacular and now they royally shaft the fans.

That one lap gave the teams the right to claim the ticket money.

Next years turn out will be dismal.

F1 is such a Schumacher fest that this year was at least turning out to be interesting. He is being beat for the first time in 7 years. Now they just up and hand one to them.

[Publius Valerius]

I really enjoy F1 racing. There are no cautions and there is a two hour time limit on every race--no six hour marathons like like that NASCAR race on Memorial Day.

Those two features alone make F1 better than other racing series. Cautions are the worst--yeah, nothing is quite as thrilling as spending 1.5 hours of a 3 hour race watching cars go around the track at 50 miles per hour.

[wrathof59]

Thanks, I did some work with Newman Haas Racing Ltd. out of Lincolnshire, Illinois in the 1990s.

Carl Haas ran a first class business operation, one of the cleanest I've ever been associated with. Four Stars.

Andretti and Mayfield were also affiliated with Haas, how did they do?

[Publius Valerius]

Just as an aside, Ferrari says they were never asked. Ferrari said if they were asked, they would have said no to a rule change, but the Ferrari maintains they were never asked. I know everyone has been reporting that Ferrari killed the compromise, but Ferrari says otherwise.

[shellshocked]

Michelin, a French company, right?

[liberty_lvr]

Agreed.

I was there too, also have attended all the USGP's since 2000. Don't think I'll do another until the venue is moved from Indy.

I hold the team's solely and squarely responsible for this outrage. They, along with their partner Michelin, came unprepared to race competitively. When they realized this they started asking for special favors outside of the rules. When they didn't get them, they threw a temper tantrum and decided they just weren't going to play anymore.

I don't remember anyone crying about safety and fair play when Ferrari (who I personally hate, along with Schumacher) came to the Spanish GP with substandard tires and struggled to keep the pace all weekend. But at least they acted like adults, struggled through it with dismal results, and vowed to improve for the next time.

That's how true professionals approach racing, and I have a new-found respect for my arch-nemisis after this weekend.

[shellshocked]

"I predict that Michelin tires will be going on sale soon to boost PR. . .
"

...and all teams cancel their Michelin contracts.


I've never liked Michelin tires. They are as soft as pencil eraser and have no grip past dry pavement.

[kenth]

I don't like that their from a French company, but Michelins are the only tire I've found that hold up to these north Georgia mountains. Every other brand I've tried have been chewed up within a year on these curved roads. I'm going on four years on my last set and they still have good tread.

[Tripoli]

Yes, Michelin is a French company. Why else would they preemptively surrender a race?

[Publius Valerius]

Don't think I'll do another until the venue is moved from Indy.

What did Indy do? It's not the fault of the city or the IMS. Why are you penalizing them?

[American Vet Repairman]

To make a parallel NASCAR is like American football. Because of the cautions there is not as much speed time. But when it is hot it is on fire. F1 is entertaining as a TV event but it lacks that WOW impact.F1 is like Euro football a lot of running around but only a few great moments.

As for drivers. The NASCAR drivers must deal with rubbing, drafting, going three wide into turns (at selected tracks), and while going at a breakneck speed.

[MamaB]

I am in Huntsville and we have a few around here, too. We had just put new ones on our granddaughter's car a few months before she was in a wreck. Totaled the car and the tires.

[Black Tooth]

Forget NASCAR and the Grand Prix. Especially NASCAR and Indy. Going in circles for hours? Come on.

Tune into the police pursuits, they are much more exciting.