F1’s most controversial races: The 2005 United States Grand Prix

The 2005 United States Grand Prix will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons, as the race started with just six cars on the grid…

After a nine-year absence from the F1 calendar, the United States made a triumphant return to Formula 1’s schedule in 2000 – Bernie Ecclestone wrangling a deal with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to run a Grand Prix on a tweaked version of the road course currently used by IndyCar.

The 2000 race had a great battle between title rivals Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen, before a Mercedes engine failure all but ended Hakkinen’s title bid. The Finn would get a consolation win the following year at the venue – his final race win in F1.

2002 resulted in a dominant Ferrari 1-2, with Schumacher ceding the win to Rubens Barrichello right on the finishing line as the German attempted to orchestrate a photo finish. Schumacher would win the following two years as well, as the 2003 race saw title rival Juan Pablo Montoya’s challenge fade due to a controversial photo finish.

At the time, F1 struggled for popularity in the United States – it was a series that simply had failed to capture the interest of a nation that were still more interested in NASCAR. This wasn’t helped by the dominance of Ferrari in the early 2000s, but the damage done by their relentless victories was nothing compared to the self-inflected wound F1 inflicted upon itself in 2005.

In 2005, an extra ingredient to the show was that of a tyre war – three teams were using Bridgestone, while the rest were using Michelin. The rules for 2005 also forbade tyre changes during a race (unless there was a valid safety concern), meaning drivers had to make one set of tyres last the entire race distance.

In general, Michelin adjusted best to this ruleset – the French manufacturer supplying Renault and McLaren as the two teams divvied up the wins throughout the season. But Indianapolis exposed a fundamental problem with Michelin’s tyre construction – and it had a big impact on how the US GP played out.

The banked final corner created unique stresses on the tyres, which wasn’t helped by the fact the surface of that section of the oval had been repaved since after the 2004 Grand Prix.

The first inkling that something was wrong was when Ralf Schumacher suffered a huge crash at the banked final corner during Friday practice. He had suffered a catastrophic left-rear tyre failure, slamming hard into the outside wall as a result. Sidelined as a result, Ricardo Zonta took over his Toyota – only for the team to find extensive cuts to his tyres after practice as well.

While the issues had only happened to Toyota, an investigation from Michelin uncovered the reality of the situation: their tyres were simply not able to cope with the demands of the final corner. With no quick solution, and the safety of 14 of the drivers in question while out on track, a crisis was quickly unfolding.

Michelin tyres only good for 10 laps

Michelin boss Pierre Dupasquier addressed the situation with FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, stating that the cars needed to be slowed down through the banking in order to ensure the safety of their tyres. Astonishingly, Michelin weren’t able to stand over the tyres for more than ‘about 10 laps’ at racing speed.

Michelin came up with some proposals, including that of flying in new specification tyres – something Whiting shot down as a rules breach – as well as a chicane being put in place at the same corner being ruled out. In fact, the FIA made it clear that the race would not be held under their sanction if the track layout was changed from what was approved.

A stand-off was quickly emerging, with Michelin confirming to Whiting that their seven teams would not be permitted to race on their tyres without any changes being made to the circuit. Whiting re-iterated the FIA’s stance that no changes would be made, and teams would have the option of either slowing down through the corner (which would be nigh-on impossible to get a driver to do), or change tyres repeatedly to get through the race safely.

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart reveals the behind-the-scenes negotiations

Paul Stoddart had plenty to gain from the race going ahead – Minardi having failed to score any points in 2005, and had no safety concerns given they were running the Bridgestone compound.

A meeting on the morning of race day saw Michelin executive and technical bosses meet with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, Indianapolis Speedway president Tony George, and nine of the 10 team bosses – Jean Todt having failed to show as the Ferrari boss maintained a stance that the issue was one for the FIA and Michelin, and none of the Scuderia’s concern.

At the meeting, Michelin outlined the tricky position they were in, and the danger the race could not proceed with their teams competing. They requested the installation of a chicane at Turn 13 – a solution that was agreed to by all nine attending teams – including Jordan boss Colin Kolles and Minardi’s Stoddart – both of whom ran Bridgestone tyres.

At the same meeting, the panel shot down the possibility of slowing the Michelin cars through the corner’s normal layout, as well as that of multi-pitstops.

However, while the majority of the teams had agreed to the compromise in the interest of the sport and the fans, Ferrari’s Jean Todt voted against. It was a position supported by FIA President Max Mosley. While Mosley wasn’t in Indianapolis, he instructed his senior staff to take the position that: “if any attempts were made to alter the circuit, he would cancel the Grand Prix forthwith”.

The nine teams, together with Ecclestone, continued to try coming up with ideas, including that of a non-championship event, or barring the Michelin teams from scoring points, or even have the Michelin-shod teams using a makeshift chicane while the Bridgestone runners ran the banked corner. The momentum behind hosting a non-championship race seemed to be the winning choice, with the nine teams agreeing to go ahead without Ferrari if needed.

However, this would result in going up against Mosley’s stance, meaning the FIA would withdraw from overseeing the event. To that end, delegates began to be picked out to take up the various FIA-held roles, such as Charlie Whiting’s Race Director position. Without the benefit of FIA technical staff or equipment, even enforcing the technical regulations would be impossible – the team bosses agreed to work together to get the message across to their teams to conduct an ‘honourable’ race in the interest of everyone.

“While I cannot testify that each and every driver agreed with what we were proposing, what I can say with certainty is that no driver disagreed,” Stoddart wrote. However, the team bosses agreed that unless the FIA came onboard with their plan, the intent was to withdraw from the race.

By now, preparations had begun on the grid – 20 cars lining up, with no clear indication as to who would actually be taking part.

Last minute negotiations in Ecclestone’s office revealed Mosley had rejected all the proposals put before him and had issued a threat on the matter: “If any kind of non-championship race was run, or any alteration made to the circuit, the US Grand Prix, and indeed, all FIA-regulated motorsport in the US, would be under threat”. However, a later statement from the FIA denied that any such statement had been made by Mosley.

Stoddart himself was then put under pressure to participate, despite having had no inclination to do so. With the Michelin teams agreeing to pull their cars into the pits at the end of the formation lap, Stoddart was told by Jordan’s Kolles that the yellow cars would race – despite initially agreeing not to.

Knowing that this would hand a significant haul of points to Jordan, Stoddart revealed he felt his rocky relationship with Mosley would result in “heavy sanctions” for Minardi if his cars didn’t line up to start the race. Thus, Minardi would take part in the race, with Stoddart revealing later he planned to retire his cars if the Jordans also failed to finish.

The 2005 United States Grand Prix begins – with six cars

The complete failure to reach a compromise resulted in the Michelin teams being forced to withdraw their cars. Heading out to take part on the formation lap, the world watched with bated breath to see if any of the drivers would go against their team’s wishes and line up on the grid – particularly title rivals Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.

But all 14 Michelin cars dutifully withdrew to the pits, with the fans’s voices raising in anger and derision as the Ferraris, Jordans, and Minardis lined up to take the start on the grid.

Astonishingly, the Grand Prix then proceeded to run as normal – the Ferraris only having to worry about having to negotiate the occasional beer can or errant debris on the racing line as the fans tossed rubbish over the catch fencing onto the track.

All six cars made the chequered flag, with Schumacher leading home Barrichello, and Jordan’s Tiago Monteiro taking the final podium spot. Minardi picked up seven points as Christijan Albers led home teammate Patrick Friesacher in fifth and sixth place. However, there were very few fans left to watch this – the crowds had begun to angrily disperse from early on, as the Indianapolis police were called in to help maintain order as the ticket office was surrounded by fans clamouring for refunds.

Given the fact that most of the negotiations were kept quite private, it was Stoddart’s willingness to go public with his version of events that laid bare just how the farcical race had unfolded. Indeed, despite Minardi scoring points, the Australian was furious with the way the events had unfolded as he gave an expletive-laden interview to Dutch television during the race.

“It’s the saddest day in Formula 1’s recent history,” he said.

“We had an opportunity to have a race. It was denied by the non-approval of putting in a chicane. The Michelin runners have my sympathy. The only reason my cars are out there is because the Jordans went out, having agreed this morning they wouldn’t go out. They went out.

“I can’t do anything. I’m a Bridgestone runner. I don’t take any pleasure in this, this is not a race, it’s a farce. My apologies go out to the fans that are here today, and to the millions and millions of people watching this on television around the world. This is why Formula 1 needs to be a sport.

“This is f**king crazy. The FIA needs to get a grip with itself and sort this sport out before there’s no f**king sport to sort out. This today is bulls**t.

“It was Max Mosley who actually said that they would not put the chicane in. He said that in the telephone call with all the team principals.”

The FIA respond to the controversy

With the calamitous race over and done with, the FIA began damage control immediately, as the governing body outlined why an uncompromising stance had been taken.

The statement laid the blame at the feet of the teams for “bringing the wrong equipment to a race”, and outlined that a chicane would have left the FIA legally exposed due to the track being altered without “following any of the modern safety procedures”.

The seven Michelin teams were summoned before the World Motor Sport Council to explain why they had withdrawn from the race, in violation of the Concorde agreement. All seven were charged with violating the International Sporting Code, on the following grounds:

• – Failed to ensure availability of suitable tyres for the race.
• – Wrongfully refused to allow cars to start the race.
• – Wrongfully refused to allow cars to race subject to speed restrictions at one corner, which was safe for such tyres available.
• – Combined with other teams to make a demonstration damaging to the image of Formula 1 by pulling into the pits immediately before the start of the race.
• – Failed to notify the stewards of intention not to race.

Max Mosley made a comparison to that of an engine manufacturer having oil starvation problems through a corner with high lateral loading, and pointed out affected teams would have to run slower as a result of that. He also pointed out the teams could have raced, and just driven through the pitlane every lap – two points positions having been up for grabs for seventh and eighth place.

The WMSC found the teams guilty of not being in possession of suitable tyres for the United States GP, albeit “with strong mitigating circumstances”. Three weeks later, this decision was overturned – the Michelin teams were exonerated after McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Red Bull’s Christian Horner pointed out to the FIA Senate that state law in Indiana meant the teams could have faced criminal charges for ‘knowingly putting others at risk’.

F1 falls out of favour with Indianapolis

While the race returned in 2006, with Michelin offering compensation to all race ticket holders from 2005 as well as purchasing 20,000 tickets for distribution for the 2006 event, the early momentum of F1 in Indianapolis was gone.

While crowd numbers remained around the 100,000 mark in ’06 and ’07, Ecclestone played hardball with Indianapolis for the renewal of the contract past ’07 – Indianapolis boss Tony George opting against continuing the contract past that season.

The United States Grand Prix thus fell off the calendar – returning in 2012 as F1 moved to Austin’s Circuit of the Americas for another attempt at cracking the US market.

COTA has proved popular in the years since, but it took the sale of F1 from Ecclestone’s CVC to Liberty Media, the US media corporation, to really capture the US interest.

Embracing the world of social media, an area Ecclestone had dismissed as important to F1, as well as offering casual fans a way to engage with the sport through the Drive to Survive series – F1 has exploded in popularity in the United States.

With three US races next year, including the arrival of a new race on the Strip in Las Vegas, the sport has come a long way from that disastrous day at Indianapolis.