I disagree. I remember when this rule was instituted and why. It is
new to F1, but not to Indy. Back in the Bad Old Days (CART), some of
the race teams were in very close to the tire manufactures. So much
so that the tire company would design two types of tires with the same
exact markings on them. One type that were extra sticky and would
wear VERY fast, and another that were less sticky but would last about
50 laps. The big money teams got the sticky tires under the table and
ran them for qualifying only. Then started the race on the normal
tires that everyone else had. So they were guaranteed a good starting
spot with no penalty during the race.
This problem got so bad that USAC passed a rule that said every car
has to start the same race on the tires that it qualified on. They
even impounded the tires, taking them from the car immediately after
its qualification run and returning them when the cars were grid right
before the race.
The other problem was that teams would start the race on brand new
tires, with the sticker still on them. This was done to get the
maximum number of laps on the tires before the first pit stop.
Problem is, the tires are pretty slippery the first few laps, until
they are worn in. So when everyone got on the throttle at the green
flag, invariably some idiot would get loose and spin. That's one
reason there used to be so many problems with first lap crashes.
IRL still has the rule, but does not impound the tires, they just put
a stamp on them and record the serial numbers.
Bottom line, the rule has a good basis for existence. I feel that the
Michilen teams should have taken the penalty and changed tires during
their pit stops.
John
On 6/20/05, Mike Rambour <mikey@b2systems.com> wrote:
> Probably the best
> choice was cancelling the stupid one tire rule for this race (or better
> yet, forever).
>
--
=================================
= Never offend people with style when you =
= can offend with substance --- Sam Brown =
=================================
|