Report: Michelin Almost Repeated Indy Disaster of Last Year
Quote selected text Published July 5th, 2006 in MainMichelin only narrowly avoided a disastrous repeat of the 2005-style ‘Indy-saga’ at the USGP in Indianapolis last weekend.
Auto Motor Und Sport in Germany reports that, although it was kept impressively quiet, the French supplier noticed damage on its 2006-spec tyres after free practice sessions at Indianapolis.
Last year, the marque had to order all seven Michelin-clad teams to retire their cars after the US GP formation lap.
In 2006, to prevent a repeat, Michelin reportedly told five of its six partner teams - all except McLaren - to use the ’soft’ option, after the hard tyre showed some signs of damage.
This could explain Renault’s uncharacteristic lack of pace; Fernando Alonso reportedly wanted to use the hard tyre but was ordered not to.
Auto Motor Und Sport also reveals that Bridgestone were wary of tyre damage at Indianapolis and - as a back-up plan - brought its 2005-spec tyres to America.
The FIA, too, had an emergency plan; if Michelin had found itself in strife this year, the governing body would have painted a line on the troublesome Indy banking, with one ‘lane’ for fast cars and one for cars restricted to a 250kph limit.
[GMM]
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