What an embarassment!

According to the team manager of McLaren they were notified by Michelin at 5:00am this morning that the tires were unsafe for the track conditions at Indianapolis. The problem was with weakening between the sidewall and the belt. The extreme G forces on the banked 13th ( an omen?) corner caused the belt to separate causing tire failure at extremely high speed on the banking. This happened to 2 Michelin shod cars on Friday resulting in one injured driver.

To be fair to Michelin - the surface at Indianapolis had been repaved over the winter. The result was so flawed that it had to be completely re-ground at least twice because of an unacceptable level of tire problems at other race meetings.

Michelin recommended installing a chicane to slow cars entering that corner. The Speedway management agreed to do that. The teams agreed to the change, but the FIA said that if the circuit was changed they would withdraw GP status and no points would be awarded.

It was reported that the Michelin teams agreed to race without championship points. It was also rumoured that they agreed to give all the tire manufacturer's points to Bridgestone. The FIA wouldn't budge. There is an unconfirmed rumour that the Ferrari team refused to race if there were no points at stake.

Sir Jackie Stewart was on the scene and said that "compromises should be made in times of crisis. There should be a chicane and everyone should race".

Once Michelin declared in writing that their tires were unsafe the teams had no choice. Think of the alternatives - drivers, marshalls or spectators could have been injured or worse.

Of the 20 cars scheduled to race 14 had Michelin tires. So only 6 cars started, the lowest starting number since the Italian GP at Imola many years ago which also had only 6 starting cars. On the bright side, it was the only the second time in F1 history that every car that started actually finished the race.

Apparently there was a lot of politics involved, as usual with the FIA , which is moving towards having a single tire manufacturer.

It will probably be some time before we know what really went on behind the scenes.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, no one looks good, especially those idiotic fans who threw debris, beer cans, water balloons onto the track and towards the cars, endangering everyone. The final embarassment was when the winners were booed.

The fans were so hostile that no one from the Speedway or FIA was willing to go to the podium to present the trophies. They were presented by someone from a sports management company and the drivers were quickly whisked away.

The mechanics of the Red Bull team said that they were afraid to attend their own party in downtown Indianapolis tonight. The whole day was an embarassment!