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Was it 150,000 people that flocked to Indianapolis to watch this race? Were half of them there because they heard of the sport and wanted to see if it was any good? Were half of the rest there because they like motor racing but was not sure of Formula One? Will any of them come back next year, if Indianapolis is still prepared to have the race? Bernie, Max, FIA. Guys you sure showed them! Finally the stupid political games that you have been playing with the "premier motor sport" has just blown up in our faces. It was absurd to watch! The only thing that I could admire is the formation of the Ferraris for the cameras. I do not care what Barrichello and Schumacher says - they were not racing. Just look at the lap times. And why should they? Those engines may have to do real battle in France so why push them? To stay ahead of the rest of the field? I imagine the challenge was to minimise lapping. How is it possible that a group of adults can come up with rules that are so stupid that a huge crowd is sent home with nothing to show for their weekend? How come there are a bunch of people that play politics inside these rules at the expense of millions of fans? Is money, power and greed that important? Do not misunderstand me. I actually have no problem with the decisions made on the day. A last minute chicane, a speed limit in a turn, frequent stops for new tyres are all knee jerk reactions that would not have worked. There was no real solution on the day. The moment that Michelin declared that their tyres (and by the way, the replacement tyres that were flown in too) were not safe, the race was over. There was no realistic alternative. Where I struggle is when I read Mr Mosley’s explanation of how the rules work. He mentions skiing, running and boating, basic sports that have nothing to do with motor racing. Now the Michelin teams are in court because they failed to come up with tyres that last? Why not have them in court for electrical failures, suspension failures, gearbox failures, wing failures etc? Potentially these are just as dangerous as tyre failures. When one starts a season with a set of rules that are pointless for any other purpose than creating orchestrated chaos there is little point to lay blame at the door of any of the competitors if this orchestrated chaos occurs. Surely it is the rules that are at fault. The FIA made it clear at the start of this season that the new rules were going to slow the cars substantially. Did it? Downforce was going to be reduced by about a quarter. Did it? What happened at Indianapolis was a consequence of a mistake that Michelin made but would that mistake have been as serious if the FIA’s rule changes worked even a little? Are the rules for 2006 any better? Rumour has it that the V8 engines are already spinning at over 20,000rpm, so how is that going to slow the cars? Does anyone bother to take potential and likely development into account when they make these rules? No wonder Mr Mosley wants to bring back the seventies. As absurd as that is, it cannot possibly be worse. My opinion is that if, after much deliberation and politicking, the end result is that ineffective it means that the activity was equally ineffective. In my opinion there is little difference between ineffectiveness and incompetence. I do not want to hear about the Concorde or any other legal nonsense that “ties hands”. If this is the root of the problem then at least be seen doing something or trying to do something to fix it. Bring the sport back, not the rules. If they can't change the rules to anything that approaches sanity then they should hire a circus to perform when it becomes too hard to stage a race. At least those clowns will be real. I can not imagine this happening in any other international sport but I am not surprised that it happened in F1. That in itself is a condemnation of where this farce has been allowed to get to. Mr Mosley whatever you are doing is not doing it for me. Agree or disagree ? You can now discuss this article on NewsOnF1 Forums. The Heretic will post replies there too. Note: If you are having problems accessing the forum or prefer not to register, you can provide your comments through the form on the Contact Us page. Loading
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