GP of USA the weirdest F1 race ever.

[Sir Og]

Only six cars started the race wich means that all they need to do is to finish and they get points.
The starting grid was so weird.

[jasev]

This may be the end of the F1 racing in the USA. If I were Bernie Ecclestone, I'd be very concerned.

[Dinner]

F1 has never been big in the US. Racest like NASCAR attract more fans then F1 does worldwide. Heck, even rally racing & stock car racing are more popular here but they're small beans compared to NASCAR.

Personally I like Touring Car races or Rally racing much better then F1 while I find NASCAR to be boring as all hell.

[Sir Og]

A friend of mine is on the race and he was very excited earlyer today. He has not been to a F1 race before. This deffinately is not what he had expected, but at least now he can say that he attended the strangest F1 race ever.

[Sir Og]

Btw what will happen if there is only one car left. Do they stop the race and declare the driver a winner er thae wait untill he completes all the laps.

[atawa]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Racest like NASCAR attract more fans then F1 does worldwide.

You dont have enough people in your country for that to be true I'm affraid

[mactbone]

Michelin's tires suck so they quit. Story at ESPN from AP.

Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- The United States Grand Prix was in jeopardy
hours before its scheduled start Sunday because tiremaker Michelin
advised the seven Formula One teams it supplies not to compete
because of safety concerns.

Michelin, the world's largest tiremaker, has been unable to
determine why some of its tires failed during Friday's practice
sessions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. One failure led to an
accident that knocked Ralf Schumacher out of Sunday's race.

In an effort to salvage it, Michelin bosses met with Formula One
chief Bernie Ecclestone in a lengthy, closed-door meeting Sunday
morning that ended roughly 90 minutes before the scheduled start of
the event.

Several team bosses said nine of the 10 teams agreed to run if a
chicane was placed in the final turn to slow speeds. Ferrari was
the lone holdout.

The FIA, which earlier in the day adamantly refused to use a
course obstacle, didn't immediately rule on the agreement. Team bosses also said it wasn't clear if the U.S. Grand Prix would count in the championship standings.

"This is disappointing because Formula One, at times, can't
realize it is a sport first and a political battle second,"
Minardi team boss Paul Stoddart said. "Nine teams have agreed to
drive for points or no points as long as a chicane is installed. It
is now in the FIA's hands, but for nine of us our position is this
is sport and there are hundreds of millions of people wanting to
see a race."

During the meeting, all 20 drivers were summoned to join the
discussions that could be seen through glass office doors. The
drivers left about 10 minutes later and declined comment.

The talks were clearly heated at times, and Ecclestone and
Renault boss Flavio Briatore engaged in an animated conversation.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George was seen pacing
and talking on his cell phone. He looked displeased when he left
the meeting shortly before the drivers arrived.

In a letter to the FIA sent late Saturday night, Michelin
officials said they informed teams that it could not guarantee that
its tires are safe -- particularly in the high-banked final turn
where Schumacher and Toyota teammate Ricardo Zonta both wrecked. Schumacher sustained a serious concussion and two broken
vertebrae in a similar accident here last season.

The tiremaker asked for permission to change the tires -- F-1
teams are forced to race on the same set of tires they qualify with
-- or the use of a chicane in turn 13.

The FIA sent back a sharply worded response, questioning how the
tiremaker landed in this position and warning the teams that they
would be heavily penalized if they changed tires. Michelin responded Sunday, saying its teams could not use the original tires. The company supplies tires to seven teams -- 14 of 20 cars in Sunday's race -- including championship leaders Renault and leading rival McLaren-Mercedes.

"We confirmed that with the tires on which we have qualified we
are not able to sufficiently guarantee the total safety of the drivers," Michelin officials wrote Sunday. "As a result, we reached the conclusion that we will not compete with these tires in the current configuration of the circuit."

The FIA replied with a terse letter, refusing to budge on the
issue. "Your teams have a choice of running more slowly in turns
12/13, running a tire not used in qualifying [which would attract a
penalty] or repeatedly changing a tire [subject to valid safety
reasons]," FIA race director Charlie Whiting wrote. "It is for them to decide. We have nothing to add."

Michelin had been trying to ship a fresh batch of tires in from
its warehouse in France, but was unable to get permission from the
FIA to allow teams to use them. The FIA replied in its first letter Saturday night that if teams broke the one-tire rule, they would be heavily penalized. "We believe the penalty would not be expulsion but would have
to be heavy enough to ensure that no team was tempted to use
qualifying tires in the future," Whiting ruled. He also ruled out the use of a chicane. "To change the course in order to help some of the teams with a
performance problem caused by their failure to bring suitable
equipment to the race would be a breach of the rules and grossly
unfair to those teams which have come to Indianapolis with the
correct tires," he said.

Only Ferrari, Minardi and Jordan use Bridgestone tires. Points leader Fernando Alonso of Renault and Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes, who is second in the world championship standings, are among the Michelin drivers.

[reismark]

Dammit, MacTBone beat me to it...

[Zopperoni]

This is hysterical

[Zopperoni]

Ferrari-, Jordan-, and Minardi sponsors are absolutely loving this.

[Sir Og]

It must be a huge hit for Michelin too.

[Zopperoni]

Definitely, this is horrible publicity... but heck, they're French, so who cares?

[Lancer]

Wasn't GP coming back? (Just to change the subject)

[Thorgal]

Racest like NASCAR attract more fans then F1 does worldwide.

[Zoid]

As I said in the F1 thread *ahem* This is a ****ing disgrace and both Michelin and Ferrari should be flogged in public. FIA hasn´t really helped either. This has seriously damaged the sport...