http://www.formula1.com/race/news/3231/740.html

Wow, I'm impressed.

 

...and then they go on to whine about how it's not their fault, because they proposed the chicane answer. It's nice that spectators will be compensated somewhat but the blame game posturing continues. There's no entity to blame besides Michelin for this mess.

K

 

I don't understand how I can be compensated. Who do I call? I won't be mad if I don't get my money back, but if the opportunity is there...I'll take it.

AJ

 

already covered in this in the other thread.

an underhanded attempt to purchase public opinion and turn it against the FIA is not "right".
They still arent owning up to their mistake, and are using the headline and media attention of refunding money to further blame others. Slimy, slimy move.

They created this situation in the first place, and they do not deserve accolades for providing a monetary refund which shouldnt be necessary in the first place. Every single person at that race would rather have watched a race than gotten their ticket price back.

 

I do agree.......
Well...sure...nice gesture! I'm sure a $85-150 ticket will appease
those that spent $1-10K to get there. Makes little difference in the
big picture...


What I find interesting are the last few paragraphs. Interesting view
point...still doesn't really alter the fact that Michelin was ill
prepared for the Indy F1 and as a result caused this entire fiasco.


Granted, I would have loved to see a 'real' race...and the chicane was
probably the only viable solution. One argument stands though, the
chicane would have penalized the Bridgestone teams who in all fairness,
were prepared. So **** off the prepared folks as a result of a major
safety concern...hmmm...hard decision, and the rules won! Go figure...

I just posted this same thing on the other thread.
Rene

 

great!! now how do I go about getting my money back or getting tickets to the usgp 2006

 

All requests for compensation must be made in French, by the way.

K

 

Behind the pretty stuff...

http://www.fia.com/resources/d...r.pdf

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">They still arent owning up to their mistake, and are using the headline and media attention of refunding money to further blame others. Slimy, slimy move.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

^What Evan said^

I could make a comment like "Typical French attitude to deflect blame.....", but I'll refrain. Oops, too late.....

I suppose I'll just voice my displeasure by purcahsing Bridgestones, Falkens, and Kumhos in the future.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MaddMatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I suppose I'll just voice my displeasure by purcahsing Bridgestones, Falkens, and Kumhos in the future. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah...I think the price for Michelins just went up a little more anyway...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
They still arent owning up to their mistake, and are using the headline and media attention of refunding money to further blame others. Slimy, slimy move.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

So you have less respect for them shelling out $12m to the FANS than if they had sat on their hands and dissolved any responsibility to the fans?

Is Michelin guilty of a huge fuckup? Yep.
Does this move dissolve them of their guilt? Hell no.
Is this a step in the right direction? Yep.


Andy, who has absolutely no love for Michelin and hasn't bought a set of their tires since they came standard on his last Honda....

 

I sure would love to own a set of tires that were on one of the 7 F1 cars at the time.

E-bay would be my friend.

 

So what are the chances of anyone ever actually seeing this refund or those free tickets for next year? One of my buddies I went with has been searching all over on how to actually get them and has found nothing. He's going to try calling Indy on his lunch break but I doubt they'll know (or care) anything about it.

 

I guess that since they only announced thier intentions yesterday...and wanted to make it known to the world both before the Council Meeting today and the French GP this weekend...they probably don't have the details worked out just yet.

I am certain that they are working on it, and will make another announcement once it is time to start paying out. They simply stated they were going to refund our money. I really don't expect them to get it worked out right away.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by maxQ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So you have less respect for them shelling out $12m to the FANS than if they had sat on their hands and dissolved any responsibility to the fans?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Im going to slam a shopping cart into your car and put a big dent and scratch in it.
Then Im going to tell everyone you know how Im going to give you money for the paint (but not bodywork, rental car, your time off work, etc) and exlaim how I dont have to, because it was you who shouldnt have had your car there. In fact, you tried to run me over with it, you bastard.
Even though in court I would be forced to pay, Im going to tell everyone how fantastic I am for doing this, and how much you suck for being in the way of my shopping cart.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Im going to slam a shopping cart into your car and put a big dent and scratch in it.
Then Im going to tell everyone you know how Im going to give you money for the paint (but not bodywork, rental car, your time off work, etc) and exlaim how I dont have to, because it was you who shouldnt have had your car there. In fact, you tried to run me over with it, you bastard.
Even though in court I would be forced to pay, Im going to tell everyone how fantastic I am for doing this, and how much you suck for being in the way of my shopping cart.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, that's a silly analogy.

I didn't pay to watch you run around with a shopping CART and the FAN was an innocent bystander in a fight that didn't (and shouldn't) concern them. In your scenario, you ran your shopping cart into the FIA's car.


Get dumped by a French girl or something?

 

Another analogy:

I steal $100 from you. I get caught and everyone thinks I'm a jackass. I then give you your $100 back. I'm still a jackass, but people think better of me cuz I didn't spend it on crack like I was originally planning.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MaddMatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I could make a comment like "Typical French attitude to deflect blame.....", but I'll refrain. Oops, too late.....</TD></TR></TABLE>

How is this deflecting blame? They are the only ones doing something about the fiasco. Sure Michelin fucked up big time but the FIA still have a responsibility in this. Right now they are simply sitting back and watching Michelin clean up the mess.

Max Mosley was quoted recently saying: "the FIA is never wrong". It's exactly this type of behavior that's wrong in Formula 1. If they took their heads out of their asses and stopped thinking they're a damn monarchy, the whole Indianapolis shitstorm could've been avoided. The point of a sport governing body is to ensure that it runs well and that the fans are satisfied. The FIA failed on both counts there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by maxQ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Well, that's a silly analogy. </TD></TR></TABLE>
of course it is, it was supposed to be , and it doesnt match up 100% of course (no analogies do) but it still gets the point across. The focus of the analogy was the money, and the fault of the incident.
If Michelin had taken responsibility in that letter, and not used the press release to further shift blame and take a shot at the FIA, I would have said they did the right thing. Something like "We are sorry for causing the debacle of the race. Here is your money back."
They could have been upstanding honorable businessmen about it. Instead they chose to be french.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Get dumped by a French girl or something?
</TD></TR></TABLE>
no, although my polish girlfriend will probably get tired of waiting for a ring sometime soon

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">They could have been upstanding honorable businessmen about it. Instead they chose to be french.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What a world it would be if the businessmen of only one nationality were the only ones not upstanding and honorable. lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">already covered in this in the other thread.

an underhanded attempt to purchase public opinion and turn it against the FIA is not "right".
They still arent owning up to their mistake, and are using the headline and media attention of refunding money to further blame others. Slimy, slimy move.

They created this situation in the first place, and they do not deserve accolades for providing a monetary refund which shouldnt be necessary in the first place. Every single person at that race would rather have watched a race than gotten their ticket price back.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow! Well said! Agreed 100%

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Quote, originally posted by MaddMatt »
I could make a comment like "Typical French attitude to deflect blame.....", but I'll refrain. Oops, too late.....

How is this deflecting blame?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Perhaps you missed this part:

"We are extremely disappointed that the proposals made with all our teams were not accepted. These proposals, including a chicane, were technically viable and totally met all safety requirements. On Sunday monrning, June 19, the sporting authority had all the means necessary to preserve the interest of the race.

And yet, the sporting authority rejected the proposed solutions. Why? In our view this is totally incomprehensible and reflects a lack of respect for the spectators."


How I read this is : "We are not the reason our teams didn't race. The FIA is. They are to blame."

But I will agree with you that Max Mosley appears to be a major problem in general.

 

I think that the FIA does have accountability solely based on the fact that it is the governing organization. The fact that they are "the boss" renders them (at least) partially responsible regardless of the fact that they didn't personally mess things up. A mayor is responsible for the actions of his police force even though he/she personally doesn't have anything to do with it. Definitely not fair, but that is part of the job description.

&lt;Insert random French insult here...making me about as original as late-night TV.&gt;

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MaddMatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How I read this is : "We are not the reason our teams didn't race. The FIA is. They are to blame."</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, that's a little stupid on their part. But forget the 'excuse' they gave, they're still the only ones doing anything about the mess. We should commend that fact. Their excuse was lame, and a sad attempt to save face, I agree. When I first heard the news, I only heard about the compensation, not the excuse they gave. I guess I'm still in that frame of mind and didn't take the press release too seriously. PRs aren't always the brightest people.

 

i don't mean to sound insensitive, because if you know me, i'm touchy feelier than 95% of men on this earth, but...

who gives a **** what michelin SAYS? michelin is not a person! i mean, you can't go to a bar to meet up with michelin to have happy hour drinks and hit on women! michelin is a corporation, one that has its own interests in mind, one that is trying to make money. not to absolve them of corporate responsibility, but finger pointing in a press release probably ranks pretty low on their list of acts of corporate shadiness.

it's pretty shitty that the USGP got fucked up and lots of people wasted time and money because of the snafu, but hey, they're paying out. might be inadequate, but it's something. 12 million more than the FIA or max or bernie or charlie are paying out. So what if it comes with a "**** the FIA" bumper sticker?

and if we ARE going to pay attn. to words, keep in mind that everyone with a vested interest in this power struggle has motive to make the other side look bad. we've seen it from mosley, stoddart, michelin, bridgestone--there are no heroes in this situation, everyone's got an angle to play, so it makes sense that any move be circumspect and have its angles fully analyzed before judgement is cast on "who is the good guy" and "who is the bad guy".