Ferrari win six-car US Grand Prix
Red one-two and a Jordan podium as Michelin withdraw


Just six cars took the start at Indianapolis this afternoon after the Michelin teams stood by their threat not to race without an additional chicane ahead of the high-speed Turn 13.

Michelin could not guarantee the safety of their tyres through this corner over a race distance, so instructed their teams not to compete if the track layout was not changed to slow the cars.

The FIA refused the request for a chicane, pointing out several other options available to Michelin. The Michelin teams declined these and jointly decided they would race on the tyres they used in qualifying, but only if the chicane was inserted.

It wasn't. As a result, all cars took to the grid, but the Michelin cars all peeled in at the end of the formation lap, leaving only the Ferraris, Minardis and Jordans to start. Jordan and Minardi had been expected to stand by the Michelin teams.

Ferrari duly won the race, with Michael Schumacher leading until the first pit stops. He lost his lead to team mate Rubens Barrichello for his second stint, but narrowly regained it after emerging just ahead of the Brazilian after his second stop.

Tiago Monteiro clinched his first Formula One podium for Jordan in third, with team mate Narain Karthikeyan fourth. The Minardis of Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher completed the finishers.

A joint press release from Michelin and their teams is expected shortly, expressing their regret at having to pull out of the race and explaining their decision.

The Michelin withdrawal followed two tyre failures for Toyota on Friday, one of which led to Ralf Schumacher crashing heavily in Turn 13.

The US Grand Prix began to go wrong when all of the 14 Michelin runners came into the pits at the end of the green flag lap, leaving only Michael Schumacher on ‘pole position’ from Ferrari team mate Rubens Barrichello, the two Jordans of Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan, and the two Minardis of Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher in front of the shocked 130,000 crowd.

After Ralf Schumacher’s left rear tyre failure on Friday afternoon, Michelin advised their runners that they could not guarantee their tyres for the race. Several ideas were mooted and the Michelin teams agreed to let the Bridgestone runners start ahead of them on the grid and to forego any championship points provided a chicane was erected in Turn 13.

However, the FIA had already stated that changing the track layout was not an option, informing Michelin that their teams could either use their existing tyres and run more slowly through 13, make tyre changes on safety grounds if necessary, or they could start with new tyres and risk being penalised for breaking the regulations.

At the start of the six-car race, Schumacher duly jumped ahead of Barrichello, with Monteiro third and Albers momentarily ousting Karthikeyan for fourth before the Jordan driver asserted himself.

Barrichello made the first of two stops on lap 24, but Schumacher’s stop a lap later occupied 16.8s as a left rear tyre had been damaged by a bottle thrown on to the track by an irate spectator and had to be changed. Barrichello thus led and kept the initiative until his next stop on lap 49.

Again Schumacher stopped a lap later, but this time he was at the end of the pit lane exit, where it feeds into Turn 1, at the very moment that Barrichello arrived there. The Brazilian was obliged to run off the road to avoid a collision, and after that the result was sealed.

Monteiro ran third throughout, with Karthikeyan, Albers and three-stopping Friesacher spread out.

Since nobody else went far enough to be classified, they were the only points scorers, and the race matched the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix as the only one in which all starters have finished.

Schumacher’s 10 point haul brings him up to third, behind Fernando Alonso on 59, and Kimi Raikkonen on 37. Barrichello moves to fourth, ahead of Jarno Trulli’s 27, with 29. Ferrari rise to joint second in the team standings on 63 points.

The FIA has ordered the seven Michelin teams to appear at a hearing of its World Motor Sport Council on Wednesday June 29 following their controversial withdrawal from the US Grand Prix.

The summons follows a statement issued by Formula One racing’s governing body earlier on Monday, in which it outlines its position on Michelin's decision to pull out of the race. The statement reads:

"Formula One is a sporting contest. It must operate to 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. It must also be remembered that the FIA wrote to all of the teams and both tyre manufacturers on June 1, 2005, to emphasise that "tyres should be built to be reliable under all circumstances".

"A chicane would have forced all cars, including those with tyres optimised for high-speed, to run on a circuit whose characteristics had changed fundamentally – from ultra-high speed (because of turn 13) to very slow and twisting. It would also have involved changing the circuit without following any of the modern safety procedures, possibly with implications for the cars and their brakes. It is not difficult to imagine the reaction of an American court had there been an accident (whatever its cause) with the FIA having to admit it had failed to follow its own rules and safety procedures.

"The reason for this debacle is clear. Each team is allowed to bring two types of tyre: one an on-the-limit potential race winner, the other a back-up which, although slower, is absolutely reliable. Apparently, none of the Michelin teams brought a back-up to Indianapolis. They subsequently announced they were flying in new tyres from France but then claimed that these too were unsafe.

"What about the American fans? What about Formula One fans world-wide? 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.

"It should also be made clear that Formula One Management and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as commercial entities, can have no role in the enforcement of the rules."

.....a competitor brings the wrong equipment to a race.