USGP Indy

IMG_4067.JPG, originally uploaded by la_fleur.

First off- screw Michelin. Now, for the reason. In Formula One racing (read: most difficult racing in the world aside from World Rally, perhaps), there are two tire manufacturers: Bridgestone and Michelin. At this year's US Grand Prix at Indinapolis the Michelin tires were having problems, all cars equipped with the tires either had failures on Turn 13 of the course, or came close to having failures. As such, the teams wanted to change tires for the race. F1 rules stipulate that tire changes are not allowed unless tires are damaged beyond repair while racing. The options the Michelin teams were left with were to A) put a in chicane (a turn used to slow cars down on a fast striaght) after Turn 13, B) pit every lap in order to check the damage to the tires or C) change tires. Everyone thought that the F1 organizers would back down and allow a tire change to a safer tires. Unfortunately this never happened, and after a practice lap on the course, 14 of the 20 cars (the ones running the french michelin tires) left the track and went to the garages. The 100,000+ fans at the race were a little confused and as we saw the race start with only 6 cars we began hearing boos and yells as everyone realized that they got screwed out of a real race. The 6 cars were made of 2 Ferraris who would obviously win and 4 cars that had no chance of winning a real race, let alone one with only 6 cars! Many people left, all were angry and F1 had its worst PR day ever. All because Michelin sent the wrong tires and refused to ask its racers to simply drive slower and work with the tires they had.