As you have said, Mr. T, it's not Max, it's all Bernie, using Max as his foil.
i would suggest another liabillity. F1 teams act in concert, such as all meeting and agreeing to not race, yet they are supposed to be competitors. Such activities can be considered illegal in the US. For instance, the baseball teams get together and arrange salary rates & caps, attendence prices and many operations rules of their clubs. There are serious Federal statues that normally criminalize such collusion amongst otherwise competing businesses. Teams have a special dispensation from Congress to so arrange their affairs, which is what gives Congress the right to interfere and keep it 'fair', as they see it. And, of course, grandstand and pontificate, like McCain, for their presidential bid.
By refusing to race, en masse, the teams are raising this issue. Their revenue-sharing agreements exceed our law's limitations on carteling, for instance. While there is a serious safety issue at the heart of this particular matter, the form by which they acted creates a potential criminal risk.
Further, as if there isn't already enough confusion about this matter, suppose one person (a driver, a spectator, a corner worker or a team member) died as a result of a crash from just the ill handling of a Michelin-shod racer in the disputed corner, let alone a tire failure. The fall-out damage to the sport in the USA would be of enormous potential due to the publicity and all the powerful forces that would wade into the water and try to 'fix' the problem with publicity.
Because of this risk, which is not small, i wouldn't be at all surprized if Michelin's tire contract allows them to say, 'you're not racing on our tires over 100knots without a course kink...period'. i think that's essentially what they said.
Now, mind you, your point about Ferrari is very true also, the big F would scream like bloody murder if a kink in the course were provided for safety. They might even withdraw. Well, too bloody bad, ay? i am not sure everyone would cry this year if they missed a race or two or even withdrew for the season. They are only just competitive at the moment. But, Max and Bernie might not get their provisional bonus points in Switzerland this year and there just might be a serious safety inspection in Italy at the next GP. TFB. And, are all the Senna police issues and liabilities at last settled against Bernie and Williams?
While i believe in a level playing field and would normally resist changing things, safety is numero uno, everybody always says; so this would have been a good time to prove it.
The fine issue is rediculous for the FIA to apply, no matter what their rules. That is Bernie again. i think the teams could not possibly run the cars against Michelin's prohibitions. OK, a smart team might have gone out for a while, cooled it in the corner and come in frequently enough to fit the Michelin operating limitations issue, but they didn't do so because of this cartelized inter-team management structure.
Michelin is indeed smart to bit the bullet and offer to re-imburse everyone in some fashion. The exact nature of that settlement is yet on the table, but it is certainly the correct attitude and it is seriously in their
PR favor.
Bernie will try to make this a team error, will protect Ferrari at any cost, will protect Michelin at any cost for about the same reasons (but not quite), but in my view and yours, is the man responsible. It was HIS call. HE made it. And it stinks and he will stink forever.
US fans are usually pretty forgiving. Look at the baseball strike fiasco. Attendence is now pretty good, particularly after last years dramatic World Series efforts. One really good GP and the US fans will return. They are NOT going to understand the FIA stuff very well. After all, it is, at the heart of it, french.
And while we have thanked them for their help over 227 years ago in our disagreements with your KGIII by saving their bacon in two WW's, little patience is left here for euro-weenies, epitomized by the Chirac/Schroeder/González Márquez triplets.
And we now know, as a result of yesterday's reporting of the Chirac/Shroeder/Putin conversations that despite his years in the US, Chirac neither likes British food and manners nor American hamburgers. Shock and horror, m'Dieu!
Such Anglophobia! Such (de)gaul! So yesterday's man for no seasoning... so... Bernie.
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