All seven formula one teams who failed to race in Sunday’s US Grand Prix over fears that their Michelin tyres might be dangerous have been charged with bringing the sport into disrepute.
Toyota, Renault, McLaren-Mercedes, Williams-BMW, BAR-Honda, Sauber-Petronas and Red Bull-Cosworth have been summonsed to defend the charges in Paris on June 29 by motor racing’s governing body FIA.
FIA took the decision after the race descended into farce when the seven teams pulled into the pitlane after the warm-up lap leaving just the cars of Ferrari, Minardi and Jordan in the field.
The French tyre maker has refused to accept the blame — instead accusing FIA and their president Max Mosley of refusing to compromise over the problem.
The FIA have charged the team chiefs with:
- failing to ensure they had a supply of suitable tyres
- wrongfully refusing to allow their cars to start the race and/or
- wrongfully refusing to allow their cars to race subject to a speed restriction in one corner which was safe for such tyres as they had and/or
- combined with other teams to make a demonstration damaging to the image of formula one by pulling into the pits immediately before the start of the race.
The FIA cannot ban the teams because future races would be wrecked with 14 cars missing but Mosley has already raised the possibility that teams could be forced to pay back the fans who paid $100 a ticket for Sunday’s fiasco at Indianapolis.
A refund was estimated to be around $16-million.
The teams may anyway be penalised by their sponsors who invite thousands of corporate guests to races.
BAR-Honda were faced with paying back $11-million to sponsors when they were banned from the Monaco Grand Prix this year.
The FIA’s stance was seen as a hardening of the battle lines between Mosley and the car manufacturers, who back the idea of a breakaway championship in the face of Mosley’s raft of new regulations to simplify motor racing to be brought in from the start of 2008.
Michelin’s failure to supply its teams with safe and durable tyres came less than two weeks after it was warned by the FIA not to sacrifice safety for performance.
Mosley wrote to Michelin in the wake of Kimi Raikkonen’s suspension failure in the European Grand Prix — caused by vibrations which built up after the Finn flat-spotted his right front tyre — warning it should take no risks in the specifications of its tyres.
Boycott renews doubts that F1 can succeed in the US
The future of formula one in the US remained cloudy as recriminations flew over Sunday’s depleted US Grand Prix at the world’s most famous race track.
Lawyers for a Colorado fan filed a suit in a federal court seeking reimbursement for client Larry Bowers and other ticket-holders who they claim were defrauded by Sunday’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Only six cars competed after Michelin raised concerns about the safety of its tyres in the final turn of the road course, prompting 14 drivers to withdraw.
Speedway spokesperson Ron Green declined to comment on the lawsuit and said many fans were renewing their tickets.
”The renewals far outnumbered people who waited in line to talk about the possibility of a refund,” Green said.
But even Joie Chitwood, president and chief operating officer of the Speedway, acknowledged that the politics of formula one and the fallout from Sunday’s race may have irreparably harmed the series in the United States.
Despite worldwide popularity, formula one has never drawn widespread interest in America, where a lack of American drivers — none since 1993 — has hurt its appeal among fans more accustomed to Indy-style oval racing and the down-home flavour of Nascar.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the series’ only US appearance, and seemed a likely choice. The track draws hundreds of thousands of fans each year to the Indianapolis 500 and Nascar’s Brickyard 400.
Chitwood said if the series can’t succeed in Indianapolis, its chances for survival anywhere in the United States may be beyond repair.
”I’m not sure that anything that occurred would help this event prosper,” Chitwood said after Sunday’s race.
”This sets us back in all of our efforts or all of the gains we’ve made in introducing this sport to America.”
The fallout extended to Sportsbook.com, an online gambling website, which said on Monday it would refund all bets placed on the 14 F1 drivers who did not compete.
”As each driver took part in the warm-up lap, by definition each wager would have been a loss,” Sportsbook marketing director Alex Czajkowski said. ”Many of our players are race fans and don’t need the added frustration this race has already cost.”
Many race fans blamed formula one. Formula one blamed the FIA. The FIA blamed Michelin for bringing the wrong tires to the race. Michelin blamed the Speedway for the design of the track.
And the Speedway? Chitwood would not rule out the possibility the contract with formula one would end.
The Speedway opened its road course, which incorporates part of the 4km oval used for the Indianapolis 500 and Nascar’s Brickyard 400, for the 2000 US Grand Prix and drew an estimated 200Â 000 spectators, but attendance has waned in recent years.
”The main reason is we don’t have any Americans in formula one,” said Bob Bondurant, a former F1 driver who grooms F1 hopefuls at his High Performance Driving school near Phoenix. ”I raced formula one in 1966, and we had Dan Gurney and Phil Hill and Mario Andretti.”
Hill won the F1 championship in 1961. Andretti, who combined his Indy-car career with F1 for several years, was the 1978 formula one champion.
But Bondurant said the withdrawal of the 14 Michelin cars and the outrage by many fans on Sunday could hurt the series worldwide.
”Michelin’s really the one that’s at fault with that. They should have had the proper tyres for the drivers,” he said. ”Having them all drop out was very stupid, I think.” Not all fans were soured by Sunday’s experience.
Christine Dowdeswell of Indianapolis, originally from England, said she requested a refund for the nine tickets she bought this year but would probably return next year.
”I have family that come in from Europe, out of state, Canada, for the race,” she said. ”We felt this race has been a tremendous addition to the city, and we are keeping our fingers crossed they’ll go on having it.” -Sapa-AFP and Sapa-AP