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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

"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.

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....