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FIA stress need for rules to be followed
After US Grand Prix fiasco
'Formula One is a sporting contest.
It must operate by clear rules.' - FIA
World motorsport's world governing body, the FIA, on Monday stressed the need for Formula One rules to be adhered to after criticism by French tyre-maker Michelin that FIA were to blame for the US Grand Prix fiasco which has severely dented American interest in the sport.
Only the six cars on Bridgestone tyres took part after a row over additional track safety measures once a practice crash alerted Michelin to the fact they had a problem.
Fans and Indianapolis track officials were fuming after Sunday's farce saw world champion Michael Schumacher claim his first win of the year ahead of Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barichello to give Ferrari 18 championship points which puts them joint second with McLaren.
FIA, stressing the need for rules to be adhered to, said in a statement on Monday: "Formula One is a sporting contest. It must operate by clear rules. These cannot be negotiated each time a competitor brings the wrong equipment to a race.
"At Indianapolis we were told by Michelin that their tyres would be unsafe unless their cars were slowed in the main corner. We understood and among other suggestions offered to help them by monitoring speeds and penalising any excess.
"However the Michelin teams refused to agree unless the Bridgestone runners were slowed by the same amount. They suggested a chicane. The Michelin teams seemed unable to understand that this would have been grossly unfair as well as contrary to the rules. The Bridgestone teams had suitable tyres. They did not need to slow down.
"The Michelin teams' lack of speed through turn 13 would have been a direct result of inferior equipment, as often happens in Formula One."
FIA said the behaviour by tyre-makers Michelin and the teams using their tyres had damaged the sport.
"What about American fans? What about Formula One fans worldwide? Rather than boycott the race, the Michelin teams should have agreed to run at reduced speed in turn 13.
"The rules would have been kept, they would have earned Championship points and the fans would have had a race. As it is, by refusing to run unless the FIA broke the rules and handicapped the Bridgestone runners, they have damaged themselves and the sport."
Earlier, Michelin's competition deputy director Frederic Henry- Biabaud said Monday they had no option but to withdraw. "Michelin would have been to blame if it had raced. Do you imagine what would have happened if, having seen the failure on Friday, we had decided to race the tyre and we had a problem," he told Europe 1 radio station. "I prefer, as a company, we find ourselves in this position rather than if there had been an accident."
He blamed the specifics of the Indianapolis track and he hit out at motor racing's governing body, the FIA, for failing to agree to a compromise. "We proposed realistic, feasible alternatives," he added.
The row is seen in some quarters as a hardening of the battle lines between the body's president, Max 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.
Ja kaikki vaikuttaakin nyt siltä että Michelin-väki ei ihan tosissaan halunnutkaan itselleen sanktioita sen enempää kisassa kuin jälkeenpäinkään. Silkkaa hurskastelua ja oman kilven kiillottamista kun on saatu nekkuun? Moraalista voittoako olivat vielä yrittämässä hakea? Tai muuten vaan koettivat olla sotkemassa kisassa ja sitten yritettäisiinkin pitää kiinni siitä mitä on saavutettu vaikka toisin olisi luvattu..
Varikon kautta vähintään olisivat voineet ajaa, siinähän olisivat jäännöspisteistä kisanneet keskenään. Tuskin tuota läpiajoa on missään kielletty ainakaan
