Yeah, I was also there for that debacle. It was my 4th time at the USGP at Indy. We go down every year and are at the track for every lap of practice and qualifying. Indy's a great city and we have a ball there going to go kart tracks and partying, so it honestly didn't ruin our weekend but the dissapointment and general screw-over of the race was something I'll never forget. Sitting closely among Columbians and Germans who I talked to who flew halfway around the world to see a bunch of arrogant people not put the fans first really made me somewhat embarassed to be such a big F1 fan, I felt ashamed that day to support such an immaturely run sport.
The way I see it is 2 parties are at fault, Michelin and the FIA, equally. Michelin made the initial mistakes of not bringing the permitted 2 tyres to the U.S. and not engineering the tyres they did have properly to last. This is a terrible disservice to the teams it supplies and they can be held 100% responsible for the points those teams and drivers lost in the world championship. Despite this gross miscalculation and poor planning, mistakes do happen and at that point it should be the FIA's job to bend a bit with its regulations and come to a reasonable compromise to provide the fans with a race, even if it didn't count or was later ruled unsanctioned. I'm not suggesting the Michelin teams be allowed to race on new tyres at no penalty, but what would be wrong with a rule to allow them to start from the pit lane if the tyres were changed? As David Coulthard said, why couldn't they just race with a substantial penalty of points or otherwise to the Michelin teams? It's absurd that the tyre rules place such a heavy penalty on changing the most important part of an F1 car, the tyres. So I say the teams not being able to race is 100% Michelin's fault and the fans getting screwed is 100% on the FIA.
I'll be perfectly honest, as much as I LOVE and look forward to that trip to Indy every year, I hope Tony George tells Bernie Eccelstone and his currently dishonorable circus to not even think about coming back to Indianapolis. The Hulman-George family has poured so many millions into their speedway to make it ready for F1 and they have been treated like garbage, right down to their own track historians, reporters, and Indianapolis news agencies not even being able to get a press pass. Now Tony George and IMS are left with nothing but 100,000 angry fans who want their money back and probably won't get it. Indianapolis and its fans deserve better, and until F1 can learn to cater to its international fans and put them first they will never reap the benefits of their general support.
I'm already planning on Montreal next year, don't expect F1 back in the U.S. anytime soon. I hear Montreal is a blast so until then I'll be brushing up on my French. Shame on Michelin for letting down its teams, and shame on the FIA for letting down everyone who put their money and hearts into F1.
-Chris
