My Life and Times

F1 begins to count the cost of its darkest hour

20/06/05

After the shame of the day before, F1 woke on Monday to begin counting the cost of what is being described as 'the most catastrophic public relations disaster in the 56-year history of the official world championship.' Or, to put it another way, F1's darkest hour.

The sight of 14 F1 cars pulling off the track at the end of the formation lap for the U.S GP and returning to the Indianapolis pits instead of racing is already being regarded as the death knell of the sport in the American market.

'Simply stated, this race is done. Forget what the contract says about future events,' read the Indianapolis Star?s obituary.

Tellingly, Speedway President Joie Chitwood immediately announced that the circuit held no commitment to invite F1 back in 2006.

"We're as much a victim of what transpired today as the fans are," he said. "Mr. Ecclestone is aware of our position and our unhappiness today."

Even Bernie, desperate to break the American market, admitted the sport's future on the other side of the Atlantic is bleak.

"I'm furious at the stupidity of it all. There should have been a compromise but we could not get one. I tried a million things and thought that if we could get them on the grid we were halfway there. But it did not happen," he complained. "We were just starting to build a great image in America on TV and with the fans. All of that has gone out of the window."

Such sombre realisation spread as far as the drivers.

"I find it hard to put into words how damaging this is for F1. It throws into doubt the future of the race in US," admitted David Coulthard. "Even if we do come back, half the crowd in the stands won't."

"It is a disaster for Formula One in the United States," added Nick Heidfeld.

The first bills for F1's most shameful episode are expected to be issued in the next few hours.

'Sponsors will be lining up to claim millions in compensation from the teams that did not run, while Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's ringmaster, could also be liable to pay huge compensation,' reported The Times.

The scene of this shameful debacle, dare F1 forget, was the most ligitous nation on the planet.

Although there was no immediate announcement that refunds would or would not be issued, on Sunday night a notice on the front door of the Speedway's administration building indicated more information about refunds would be available on Monday.

With Bernie conceding "they've been cheated", F1 will be under huge pressure, both moral and legal, to issue full refunds to all the Indy spectators on Sunday.

Michelin, however, are likely to bear the immediate brunt of F1's shame.

The FIA are expected to charge the French tyre manufacturers, whose admission that their rubber was unsafe to use at Indy precipitated Sunday's shambles, with bringing the sport into disrepute this week.

The withering response of Charlie Whiting, the FIA's race director, to Michelin?s request for a chicane to be introduced, in which he scorned their failure to supply "correct tyres", is likely to be a mere taster of the FIA's response.

'We are very surprised that this difficulty has arisen,' he continued. 'As you know, each team is allowed to bring two different types of tyre to an event so as to ensure that a back-up (usually of lower performance) is available should problems occur. It is hard to understand why you have not supplied your teams with such a tyre given your years of experience at Indianapolis.

'That the teams you supply are not in possession of such a tyre will also be a matter for the FIA to consider in due course under Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.'

Under the terms of Article 151C, penalties can be applied for "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to any competition or to the sport in general".

Michelin's apparent incompetence could not be worst timed, coming just days after the FIA published proposals to limit tyre supply to just one organisation for 2008 and beyond.

Moreover, 'Michelin's failure to supply its teams with safe and durable tyres less than two weeks after it was warned by the FIA not to sacrifice safety for performance [after Kimi Raikkonen's tyre failure at the Nurburgring] could force the French tyre company's withdrawal from the sport,' noted The Guardian.

However, in mitigation, Michelin publicly announced their mistake nearly 48 hours before the grand prix began.

That the sport could then not reach a compromise for the sake of its reputation and image damns those far beyond the confines of Michelin.

"The bottom line is Michelin made a mistake. But after that the FIA had it in their hands to find a solution and ensure we all raced out there. The most important people, the fans, have been forgotten in all of this," noted Coulthard.

Jacques Villeneuve, meanwhile, blamed Ferrari for their failure to agree to the introduction of a chicane: ?We could have raced with a chicane, if a chicane had been put before the banking, but Ferrari didn't accept."

Michael Schumacher's comment, "I don't know what Michelin's problem is, but this wasn't our problem," spoke volumes about Ferrari's intransigence ahead of F1's race of shame.

F1's blame game is set to explode in the coming days but the damage has already been done. On Sunday this was a sport that imploded.

The cost, which will perhaps never be fully appreciated, will be borne by all those shamed by their association to this reprehensible debacle