JUNE 21, 2005

The madness continues

We hear that the FIA has ordered Michelin to supply it with full details of all of its tyre failures in recent times and that the federation has instructed the French tyre maker that the information will be put in front of an independent technical expert to decide whether or not Michelin's F1 tyres are dangerous. We have not seen the letter from FIA President Max Mosley to Michelin but apparently it suggests that the outcome of this could be the exclusion of Michelin from the World Championship, which would leave seven teams with no tyres for future races.

As most of the cars are designed specifically for Michelin tyres this would mean that cars could not be run because of safety issues.

We expect to see the teams providing a robust defence of the charges against them and we would expect to see a similar reaction from Michelin.

The alternative is for the companies involved to begin to quit the F1 scene - which is quite possible now - which would be the start of an even bigger disaster for the sport.

The FIA World Council next week will be the most significant FIA meeting for more than 10 years with the major question not being the details of what happened in Indianapolis but rather whether the best interest of the sport is to have a World Championship featuring the best of the best or a ruined championship over which the FIA has full control to do as it pleases.

In the second case, it is likely that there will be a rival championship featuring the refugees of F1 as we now know it.

For us, there is only one acceptable answer but we must see if the World Council members agree or whether they believe that it is best to kill what we have and start again with something new.