TedN
06-25-05, 12:53 PM
Interesting read in today's Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1119522977014&call_pageid=968867497088&col=969048871196&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes) . Anyone believe this is a plausable explanation? Is there any way to confirm?
Now, people have been calling and writing all week and saying things like: "What did you think about the U.S. Grand Prix?"
Well, like everybody else, I was floored. Since then, it has been fascinating to listen to F1's excuses. "No choice." "Too bad." "Awful." That sort of thing.
Before I get to my conspiracy theory (look, there has to be one because none of this makes any sense at all), I called and wrote some of my friends in the auto racing industry and tried it out on them. No one said it wasn't plausible.
So, here it is.
I think we're being snowed about the real reason those seven teams and 14 drivers bailed at Indianapolis. Yes, there was a safety issue because of concern about the tires. But auto racing is a dangerous game and people get hurt playing it.
So what happened here?
I think it became an insurance issue. I think the insurer, or insurers, pulled the plug on this race. Which meant the drivers and the teams were on their own in case of an accident.
Who, in their wildest dreams, would ever have imagined that more than half the drivers in a Grand Prix would drive into the pits before the start, get out of the cockpits, shrug their shoulders and say, collectively, "It's too dangerous, we're not going to race."
Too dangerous to race? These are racing drivers! These are the bravest of the brave!
Refusing to race? Unbelievable!
They did this in front of more than 100,000 people in the grandstands at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and many, many hundreds of millions more around the world watching on television.
Kimi Raikkonen? Chicken?
Fernando Alonso? Perfectly happy to drive to the airport while Michael Schumacher stole 10 points from him?
Incomprehensible.
Which means there's got to be more to it.
Formula One drivers are paid millions of dollars by the teams, corporate sponsors and personal sponsors. Although they pay enormous premiums, they are insured for millions in the event of death or injury.
The teams and the corporate suppliers also are insured to the hilt, particularly in the area of liability. If a wheel or a piece of a car flies into a spectator area and fans are hurt, or worse, lawsuits are guaranteed. Spectators (or their survivors) usually win.
So, Michelin became worried after Ralf Schumacher and two others had tire problems on the Friday. Michelin did everything it could to rectify the situation but could not convince the FIA to let them either replace the tires (against the rules, you know) or create a chicane that would have slowed down the cars before the critical Turn 13 (Indy's Turn One, only backwards).
At which point, Michelin had to publicly state that it could not guarantee the safety of its tires.
Moments later, you can bet, the on-site insurance reps quietly notified the drivers and the teams their insurance was being pulled.
And moments after that, you can also bet team managers and sponsors said: "There is no way we will put ourselves or our companies at risk."
Ted
Now, people have been calling and writing all week and saying things like: "What did you think about the U.S. Grand Prix?"
Well, like everybody else, I was floored. Since then, it has been fascinating to listen to F1's excuses. "No choice." "Too bad." "Awful." That sort of thing.
Before I get to my conspiracy theory (look, there has to be one because none of this makes any sense at all), I called and wrote some of my friends in the auto racing industry and tried it out on them. No one said it wasn't plausible.
So, here it is.
I think we're being snowed about the real reason those seven teams and 14 drivers bailed at Indianapolis. Yes, there was a safety issue because of concern about the tires. But auto racing is a dangerous game and people get hurt playing it.
So what happened here?
I think it became an insurance issue. I think the insurer, or insurers, pulled the plug on this race. Which meant the drivers and the teams were on their own in case of an accident.
Who, in their wildest dreams, would ever have imagined that more than half the drivers in a Grand Prix would drive into the pits before the start, get out of the cockpits, shrug their shoulders and say, collectively, "It's too dangerous, we're not going to race."
Too dangerous to race? These are racing drivers! These are the bravest of the brave!
Refusing to race? Unbelievable!
They did this in front of more than 100,000 people in the grandstands at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and many, many hundreds of millions more around the world watching on television.
Kimi Raikkonen? Chicken?
Fernando Alonso? Perfectly happy to drive to the airport while Michael Schumacher stole 10 points from him?
Incomprehensible.
Which means there's got to be more to it.
Formula One drivers are paid millions of dollars by the teams, corporate sponsors and personal sponsors. Although they pay enormous premiums, they are insured for millions in the event of death or injury.
The teams and the corporate suppliers also are insured to the hilt, particularly in the area of liability. If a wheel or a piece of a car flies into a spectator area and fans are hurt, or worse, lawsuits are guaranteed. Spectators (or their survivors) usually win.
So, Michelin became worried after Ralf Schumacher and two others had tire problems on the Friday. Michelin did everything it could to rectify the situation but could not convince the FIA to let them either replace the tires (against the rules, you know) or create a chicane that would have slowed down the cars before the critical Turn 13 (Indy's Turn One, only backwards).
At which point, Michelin had to publicly state that it could not guarantee the safety of its tires.
Moments later, you can bet, the on-site insurance reps quietly notified the drivers and the teams their insurance was being pulled.
And moments after that, you can also bet team managers and sponsors said: "There is no way we will put ourselves or our companies at risk."
Ted