2005 United States Grand Prix
Following several tyre failures before the race, most spectacularly on Ralf Schumacher's Toyota during Friday practice, Michelin advised its seven customer teams that the tyres provided for the race were not safe to use for the entire race, even though they had been providing working tyres for the race since 2001. The situation was worsened by the 2005 Formula 1 rules, which forbade tyre changes during the race; and also by a resurfacing of the circuit, which resulted in greater tyre wear.
The FIA, the sport's governing body, refused a compromise proposal from Michelin to allow a chicane to be installed, maintaining that such rule changes would be grossly unfair to the Bridgestone-shod teams, who had come prepared with properly working tyres. The Michelin teams, unable to come to a compromise with the FIA, decided not to participate.
Of the six competitors, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher was the eventual winner. The result significantly boosted his championship standing, placing him third overall no driver above him in the table took part in the race. It also had a significant effect on the outcome of the 2005 Constructor's Championship; without the easy 18 points Ferrari gained from this race they almost certainly would have finished below Toyota in said Championship (in the end thanks to this race they finished 12 points ahead in 3rd). The situation created enormous negative publicity for the sport of Formula One, especially in the United States, a market in which Formula One had struggled to establish itself over the preceding 20 years, leading some to label the race as Indygate.
Pre-race controversy
Michelin tyre failures
On Friday, June 17, 2005, during the afternoon's practice session, Ralf Schumacher driving for Toyota, crashed badly in Turn 13 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, apparently as a result of a left-rear tyre failure. He was unable to continue competing, and was replaced by the team's test driver, Ricardo Zonta for the rest of the weekend. Schumacher had crashed at high speed at Turn 13 the previous year while driving for the Williams team. Turn 13 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course is a high speed banked turn, unique in Formula One racing, that causes a greater than usual tyre loading. This pressure can cause the side walls of the tyre to bow and wear in abnormal places. The following day, Michelin reported that it did not understand why the tyres it had provided for its seven customer teams BAR, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Toyota, Sauber, and Williams had failed in this turn, and announced its intention to fly in tyres of a different specification from its Clermont-Ferrand headquarters. Unfortunately, the replacement tyres flown in, which were of the type used in the Spanish Grand Prix earlier that year, turned out to have the same problem when tested.Correspondence between Michelin and the FIA
In a letter to FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, dated Saturday, June 18, Michelin representatives Pierre Dupasquier and Nick Shorrock revealed that they did not know the cause of the Toyota tyre failures, and unless the cars could be slowed down in Turn 13, they could not guarantee the tyres' safety for more than 10 laps. Whiting replied on Sunday, June 19, expressing his surprise that Michelin had not brought suitable tyres, suggesting that the teams should limit their drivers to the maximum safe speed specified by Michelin in Turn 13. He also addressed several solutions which had been proposed by the teams, insisting that use of the new specification tyres flown in overnight would be "a breach of the rules to be considered by the stewards", and the placement of a chicane in the turn was "out of the question" the race would not be sanctioned by the FIA (making it a non-championship race) if the track layout was changed. He deemed the Michelin teams' proposals to be "grossly unfair" to the Bridgestone teams.In a second letter, also dated June 19, Dupasquier and Shorrock confirmed that they would not permit their teams to race on the Michelin tyres used during qualification without changes to the circuit, and reiterated their request to slow down Turn 13. Whiting's brief reply maintained that no such change would be permitted, and gave the teams the choice of limiting speeds through Turn 13, using tyres of a different specification to those used in qualifying, subject to a penalty, or changing tyres repeatedly, which is permitted if a driver's safety is at issue.
Attempts at compromise
Paul Stoddart, then owner of Minardi, a team using Bridgestone tyres, published an account on Wednesday, June 22, of the events leading up to the race. Stoddart recorded a meeting around 10:00am on the day of the race, to which Speedway president Tony George, "the two most senior Michelin representatives present at the circuit", Bernie Ecclestone (president and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration), the team principals, and the teams' Michelin technical representatives were summoned. All invited were present except Jean Todt, Team Principal of Scuderia Ferrari.By Stoddart's account, the meeting proceeded as follows: The Michelin representatives stated their position that the tyres provided to the teams could not safely complete the race distance, and requested that the Bridgestone teams, represented by Stoddart and Jordan's Colin Kolles, permit the installation of a chicane in Turn 13. Those present discussed and agreed to reject the FIA's solution of speed-limiting the Michelin cars in the turn because of the potential for accidents. They likewise dismissed the possibility of making pit stops every ten laps, resolved that a chicane was the best solution, and instructed several technical representatives to prepare plans for its installation. Bernie Ecclestone volunteered to consult Todt, who had not come to the meeting, and the president of the FIA, Max Mosley, who was not present at the race, and reconvene the meeting when he had responses.
Ecclestone returned at about 10:55 to inform the group that Todt had refused to agree to the chicane, maintaining that it was an FIA and a Michelin problem and not his. By the time Stoddart's account of the meeting was published, Todt had already denied that he had ever been consulted, but stated that, if asked, he would not have agreed to the chicane. Furthermore, Ecclestone reported that "Mr Mosley had stated that if any attempts were made to alter the circuit, he would cancel the Grand Prix forthwith".
Team principals' plan
The group, according to Stoddart, continued to propose alternate solutions, including "a non-championship race, or a race in which the Michelin teams could not score points, and even a race whereby only the Michelin teams used the new chicane", but eventually agreed that the best option was to install the chicane and run a non-championship race, without Ferrari if necessary. To ignore the FIA's instructions and carry on the race would have resulted in the FIA's withdrawing its staff, so the group appointed delegates to fill the various offices, including a race director to replace Charlie Whiting and a safety car driver to replace Bernd Maylander. The team principals were instructed to convey to their teams and drivers that, in the absence of FIA scrutineers and equipment, the technical rules could not be enforced, and that they were to conduct themselves honourably and in the interest of an entertaining race.
They proceeded to summon the twenty drivers and present their plan. Of the drivers' opinions, Stoddart writes: "While I cannot testify that each and every driver agreed with what we were proposing, what I can say with certainty is that no driver disagreed." The Ferrari drivers expressed no opinion in the matter, leaving the decision to Todt, who was not present. The nine present team principals thereupon resolved that, unless they and the FIA could come to a decision in the interest of the sport, they would not participate in the race.
After a short break, the group gathered again in Ecclestone's office to find Renault team principal Flavio Briatore on the phone with Max Mosley. Mosley had apparently rejected all of their proposals, and indeed "it was stated that Mosley had informed Mr Martin, the FIA's most senior representative in the USA, that if any kind of non-championship race was run, or any alteration made to the circuit, the US Grand Prix, and indeed, all FIA-regulated motorsport in the US, would be under threat". On the same day that Stoddart's version of events was published, the FIA issued a statement denying that Mosley had made the reported threat, or that any such conversation had taken place.
Having exhausted their options, the Michelin team principals, Stoddart, and Bernie Ecclestone but not Jordan's Colin Kolles discussed whether their cars should proceed to the grid, and decided that they should participate in the formation lap but that they could not race. Stoddart asked Kolles if he would be entering his cars and was informed that Jordan would indeed be racing, despite having previously agreed not to. Stoddart was then approached by a Bridgestone representative and told that Bridgestone wanted him to race; He has also stated that given his "current relationship with Mr Mosley, [he] felt certain heavy sanctions would follow if [he] did not [race]." Stoddart too decided to enter his drivers, but reported that he would retire them if the Jordans did not finish the race.
Race report
At the start of the race, all the cars lined up on the grid per FIA race procedure. As Charlie Whiting signalled the green light to start the formation lap, a full field of twenty cars set off as normal for a single lap before forming the starting grid. At the banked Turn 13, the entrance to the pit lane (and the turn that was the centre of the controversy), all teams that ran Michelin tyres returned to their pits, leaving just six cars from the three Bridgestone teams (Ferrari, Jordan, and Minardi) to start the race.
The move by the teams, to come to the grid and then pull out after the formation lap into the pits, infuriated the fans, as they had little idea what was happening. Loud boos were heard and some threw items on the track. US broadcaster Speed Channel's Peter Windsor was only able to report the details of the situation shortly after the race had started. The race quickly turned into a two horse Ferrari race, with the Italian team's Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello in front, Jordan's Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan in a distant third and fourth, and Minardi's Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher bringing up the rear.
The race was a story of pit strategy, as the only passing on the circuit was of lapped traffic. Albers was the only car to run a three pit stop race, as all other drivers chose to stop only twice. The only lead changes came on lap 26, as Schumacher's 32-second stop gave Barrichello the lead, and on lap 51, as Schumacher turned in the quickest pit stop at 23.615 seconds, giving him enough time to exit pit lane at the same time as Barrichello, with the result of forcing Barrichello into the grass of Turn One. After this incident, which was not investigated by race officials, both Ferrari drivers were reminded over their radios not to crash out of the race, and they both settled into a slower pace, comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. All six starters finished the race, only the third time in Formula One history when every car that started a race went on to complete it. Neither Minardi nor Jordan had been competitive in 2005, and all four of their drivers scored their first points in Formula One at this race. Karthikeyan's points were the first for an Indian driver in Formula One. This was also the last race at which the Minardi team scored points.
At the podium ceremony, at which none of the scheduled presenters were present, all Ferrari team members quietly accepted their awards, and quickly exited. However, Monteiro stayed behind to celebrate his first podium finish, and the first for a Portuguese driver.
Aftermath
The win, Schumacher's only victory of 2005, ended the second-longest non-winning streak of his career and moved him from fifth to third in the drivers championship. Rubens Barrichello moved from sixth to fourth, and the Ferrari team moved from fifth to second in the Constructors Championship. Both Jordan and Minardi scored points, leaving BAR-Honda as the only team not to have scored any points up to that stage of the season. However, these changes in the championship standings were dwarfed by the recriminations over the failure to find a solution which have would allowed the Michelin-shod teams to race.
Bernie Ecclestone, in answer to a question by ITV's Martin Brundle in an interview just before the start of the race, described the future of Formula One in the United States and the future of Michelin in the sport as "not good". He also said that the "incident's not the fault of the teams, to be honest with you.
Many people involved in F1 labelled the race a "farce" and questioned whether a United States Grand Prix would be held again at Indianapolis, or at any other American venue ever again for that matter. David Coulthard said, "It throws into doubt the future of the race in US". Some pointed to the previous disagreements between the teams and Max Mosley (which had led to the threatened creation of the GPWC as an alternative to Formula One) as a critical factor in the failure to reach a compromise and felt that the events at this race had greatly increased the risk of a complete rupture.
Minardi boss Paul Stoddart said immediately after the race that nine teams all but Ferrari agreed not to race, and had Jordan not reversed its decision at the last minute, Minardi would also have boycotted the race. In his later, lengthier, statement, he indicated that although it had been Michelin's failure to provide a reliable tyre which had initiated the events, he laid the full blame for the failure to reach some accommodation (which would have allowed a race to happen, for the benefit of the many fans who had paid considerable money for travel and tickets) at the feet of Max Mosley and the FIA, with a small share of the blame going to what he characterized as the obstructionist Ferrari team leader, Jean Todt. He furthermore called for Mosley's resignation.
FIA's reaction
The following day, the FIA published a justification of its refusal to permit a change in tyres or the installation of a chicane. The FIA also summoned the seven Michelin-shod teams before the World Motorsport Council at their headquarters in France, for a hearing on June 29, to explain their failure to participate, by which they had presumably violated the terms of the Concorde Agreement. It later published copies of the letters sent to each team "in the interests of transparency". They were charged with violating article 151c of the International Sporting Code, which refers to acts prejudicial to the interests of competition or motorsport generally. Specifically, it was charged that they had:- Failed to ensure availability of suitable tyres for the race.
- Wrongfully refused to allow cars to start the race
- Wrongfully refused to allow cars to race subject to speed restrictions at one corner, which was safe for such tyres available.
- Combined with other teams to make a demonstration damaging to the image of Formula 1 by pulling into the pits immediately before the start of the race.
- Failed to notify the stewards of intention not to race.
On June 22 the FIA produced a press release from Max Mosley, in the form of a question-and-answer session, in an effort to clarify the FIA's stand on the controversy. In it Mosley drew an analogy to a hypothetical situation where the engines from one manufacturer had oil starvation problems due to high lateral loading in one corner, and pointed out that those cars would simply have been forced to run slower as a result. He reiterated that the reason for not installing the chicane was purely that it had never been tested and was thereby deemed unsafe. He pointed out that the alternatives that the FIA suggested were feasible, and wondered why the teams did not use the pitlane as an alternative, especially when, with only six Bridgestone cars, the Michelin teams could still compete for the points scoring seventh and eighth places.
On June 29 the FIA World Motorsport Council found the teams guilty on the first two counts, that is, of not being in possession of suitable tyres for the event, but with strong mitigating circumstances, and that of wrongfully refusing to allow their cars to start the race. The teams were found not guilty of the other three counts. The punishment, however, was not decided, and was not to have been announced until September 14.
On July 22, the FIA World Motorsport Council voted to overturn its previous decision, and exonerated the Michelin teams of all charges. The decision was due to "evidence previously submitted to the FIA Senate", rumoured to be that the Michelin teams could have faced criminal charges under Indiana state law for knowingly putting others at risk if they had raced (even if no accident actually occurred).
Compensation
On June 28, Michelin announced that it would offer compensation to all race fans who had purchased tickets for the Grand Prix. By the end of September, the company had issued refund cheques through the Speedway ticket office for the price of all tickets for the race. Additionally, Michelin purchased 20,000 tickets for the 2006 United States Grand Prix to be distributed to spectators who renewed their 2005 ticket orders for the event, two additional tickets per order.In addition to the refunded tickets, there was some discussion about holding a second, non-championship race at Indianapolis. On July 2, at the 2005 French Grand Prix, McLaren team principal Ron Dennis suggested that an additional race could be held at the American circuit after the last official race of the season, in Shanghai. The teams had, apparently, already discussed the idea with Bernie Ecclestone. But the next day Tony George dismissed the possibility: "There will be no race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this fall. At the 2005 Champ Car World Series Grand Prix of Cleveland, held one week after the US Grand Prix, free admission was granted to all bearers of ticket stubs of the US Grand Prix.
Friday drivers
| Constructor | Nat | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| McLaren-Mercedes | Pedro de la Rosa | |
| Sauber-Petronas | none | |
| Red Bull-Cosworth | Scott Speed | |
| Toyota | Ricardo Zonta | |
| Jordan-Toyota | Robert Doornbos | |
| Minardi-Cosworth | none |
Classification
Qualifying
Race
Notes
- This was the only Formula One event Ricardo Zonta entered in 2005.
- Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello last 1-2.
- First podium: Tiago Monteiro
- First points: Tiago Monteiro, Narain Karthikeyan, Christijan Albers, Patrick Friesacher
- Last race: Ricardo Zonta
- Three years later, at the NASCAR 2008 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, Goodyear had similar tyre wear issues, albeit with much heavier cars and on the oval course, not the track configuration used in Formula One. However, with Goodyear as the sole supplier, the race was run with safety cautions to ensure that drivers changed tyres and kept within safe limits.
References
External links
- Facsimiles of correspondence from June 1 and 2 between Michelin sporting director Pierre Dupasquier and FIA president Max Mosley regarding tyre safety (pdf)
- Facsimiles of the Michelin/Whiting letters exchanged at Indianapolis on June 18–19:
- Michelin's first letter (pdf)
- Whiting's first reply (pdf)
- Michelin's second letter (pdf)
- Whiting's second reply (pdf)
- Facsimiles of the letters sent to each team informing them of the charges against them (pdf)
- Questions to Max Mosley about the events of the race
- "A Personal Account of Events Surrounding the 2005 US Grand Prix" by Paul Stoddart, Minardi team owner
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday October 08, 2008 at 14:29:24 PDT (GMT -0700)
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