indianapolis flop

[dohcfiend]

thoughts? opinions?

[geoffinbc]

Michelin failed to deliver in front of the largest consumer market in the world. So now every American will buy Brigestone on Monday. LOL

[v6h.o.]

Its a sad day for F1 in the US which already doesnt have a good showing in terms of people watching or interested in the series already.

Michelin dropped the ball pure and simple.

[dohcfiend]

Its a sad day for F1 in the US which already doesnt have a good showing in terms of people watching or interested in the series already.

Michelin dropped the ball pure and simple.

i may have to slightly disagree. there were over 142k people in attendance. however all of them aren't usa natives granted. even though we as a nation aren't as enthusiastic about f1 as say nascar we still represent i believe one of the largest fan bases for the sport according to the speed channel announcer anyway.

true michelin dropped the ball. they overnighted new sets of tires but they weren't allowed. which i see a merit since they may have given a certain advantage to the michelin drivers if that may have been the case. that is acceptable to me.

i think the f1 governing body should have allowed the chicane and hence allowed a real race. i know it is against their regulations but in some cases(like this one) the rules should be bent to allow a good race to take place. the crap i saw however was an outrage.

the entire f1 series should ultimately be for the FANS, somehow i think the governing body has lost sight of that IMHO.

i rarely watch f1 and now i see why. only reason i tuned in was they were at indianapolis. i like the scca/grand am/grand prix stuff more.

[LQ1]

I was out of town all weekend, can someone fill me in?

[v6h.o.]

I think F1 did the right thing in not alowing the chicane, The track is how it is. The tyre manufacturer wants the track changed and altered because your tyres are not up to par? Thats bullshit. Thats like saying a few weeks ago when bridgestone was having issues with tyre failures that they should have been asking that the tracks should have been altered as well.

Its not like this is the first time Michelin has raced on Indy. The series has been there for 6 years now. However yes this is the first time they have had to race there since the no tyre change ruling has come into effect. But seriously, they fucked up royally on what compound and setup of tyre they came to play with.

Yeah its unfortunate that they couldnt have run the tyres that they flew in from France, But like you say thats a possible advantage/dissadvantate situation.

Its not the F1's fault. Its Michelins lack of prep and testing.
Its just sad that 14 out of 20 teams run those tyres (which up untill now really compared to Bridgestone were being really competive, safe, and outlasting) which leads to the whole fucking feild coming off.
It just ended up being an absolute gong show and a failure of entertainment for us the fans and for those who spent hard earned money to come to see a race from all over North America and the world. Its one thing to be re-embursed your ticket $, but what about your time off work and plane ride over ect...... Sad.

145K people there. Yet when I went to the Indy 500 3 years ago it was sold out, Same situation with the Brickyard 400 when I was there 2 years ago as well.
I went to the Australian GP 2 years ago in Melbourne and it was sold out in terms of actual "seats" so we got grass/standing tickets to watch from the sidelines.

IIRC the whole Indy complex holds 300-350 K people?
Every year in the US the stands are empty. This weekend sure isnt going to help ticket revenues anytime soon either.

[RidgeRunner]

Michelin failed to deliver an adequate tire. But at least they had enough concern for safety to make the teams aware of the problem.

This is not good for the future of F1 in the USA. Especially because of the damn chowderheads that were throwing trash onto the track. Really makes Americans as a whole look like a real nice bunch. S