US Formula 1 race great for Ferarri, bad for Michelin

[tihol tiholov]

> ... they could start the race with new tires (new compound tires were flown in Sunday morning though they weren't guaranteed to be much better) and go to the back of the pack (not a big hit as there was only 6 non-Michelin cars); or they could change their tires throughout the race as necessary, which FIA would allow from a safety perspective, as long as they didn't get a competitive advantage from it.  Michelin refused.

I share your sentiment.  It matters little now but here are a couple of details.  According to <racing1.de> FIA disallowed using new tires.  9 teams (all except Ferrari) agreed on a chicane, though Ferrari didn't have any vote about it.  Again FIA disallowed it - no testing.  FIA's position was/is that if the Michelin-users had lifted off in turn 13 the rules would have been followed, they would have collected some points and the fans would have seen a proper race.

Larry Bowers, race fan from Colorado present at Indy, has started a lawsuit (DK if class action) against FIA, Michelin and the F1 governing body for fraud and financial compensation.  Max Mosley has spoken in favor of financial compensation for the 160K fans present.  He'll likely collect from the teams, whose bosses are invited to a hearing in Paris on June 29 to answer to charges of deliberate actions against the interests of competition.  Apprently this is a breach of some rules protecting the interests of motorsport, so he got them nailed (even some paragraph 151 is quoted).  
Michelin  rep said he could clear the teams to start for fear of possible litigation (in the very likely case of an accident) under the US product liability law.      

> ... and dealt a big, big blow to F1 racing in the US.

Fully agreed.  This was the worse place on earth to have this happen.
That's why I'm a rally fan - harder to watch but no last-minute cancellationss.

TT