A F****NG FARCE! The Full Story of the 2005 United States Grand Prix 

The thing is, everyone wants to talk about the race itself and the stuff that never happened during the weekend. But the discussion all ends with, "Well, Michelin didn't bring the proper tire" and that it. Except it's not it, no one ever talk sabout how it was that Bridgestone were able to bring a "proper tire" and Michelin weren't. IMS had been repaved after the previous seasons USGP, it had also been diamond ground. Earlier in the year, a tire test had been scheduled for Bridgestone and Michelin. Prior to this test, however, there was a tire test for the IndyCars. After this test Michelin called the Speedway and asked about the results of this test and some other key questions. IMS told them what Firestone had told them, the wear rates were about the same as the previous year, and the track had a bit more grip in it. Michelin took that information and believed they had enough information to build the needed tire, informed the Speedway the weren't coming to the tire test and told them they'd see them at the race. Firestone then took ALL the data it had from the test and handed it over to Bridgestone, who were able to build a tire consistent with the new surface. Michelin and IMS, didn't believe that Firestone/Bridgestone would blatantly lie and mislead them in a situation where drivers lives were, literally, in the balance, especially after Ralf's crash the previous year. So when the circus showed up and the Michelin's were failing and the Bridgestone's were fine, Michelin were initially mystified as to why their tires were behaving so poorly. It didn't take them long to put the puzzle pieces together. Following the race, there was discussion amongst Michelin and it's teams over whether they could successfully sue Bridgestone/Firestone and IMS over the blatant disregard for driver safety from feeding them either wrong or incomplete data. People also don't mention and they should, that years Brickyard 400 was a complete shit show as well due to tire issues with Goodyear.

Hearing the Minardi guy talk at the end really made it hit me. The guy is apoplectic, So angry you can hear the passion. Love the bit when he wants to swear & is then told he can. Why can't all f1 interviews be this real!? It also ruined his championship battle with Jordan.

I still remember Martin Brundel threatening to punch Schumacher if he did his leaping punch on the podium.

“It’s ok, you can swear on our TV station...” if only that was said more often in F1 today

2005 US GP at Indy - worst F1 race ever 2021 Belgian GP at Spa - hold my beer and chips

All I remember was how Tiago Monteiro made the party. Man, he was like he had just won the Driver's World Championship!!

When I was watching this race as a 13 year old Jordan fan I was just excited to see yellow on the podium. In hindsight it's a damn shame they didn't boycott the race

“Hey, hey, hey! For me, it was an unforgettable day!” -Tiago Monteiro, the Mini Drivers video for this race.

My new favourite word is catastrofuck

Whenever people propose solutions to improve the show with gimmicks like tyre wars, like 2001-2006 (between Bridgestone and Michelin), this "Grand Prix" from 2005 is consistently brought up by opponents. It'll be interesting to hear what Max Mosely has to say about this. The simple fact is that there were potential solutions available to enable a race to take place, but the FIA chose to go down the PR disaster route for F1 in the country it could afford to do so least, the United States of America. As David Coulthard said after the six Bridgestone cars started the race, "... it's going to be one of those scenarios now of who could have done, who should have done? The reality is, mature adults were not able to come to a resolution that would have allowed us to put on the show that everyone wants to see in Formula One, and it's a very sad day for the sport I have to say." ITV F1 commentator James Allen summed up the fiasco thus, "it's an illustration of how the teams in Formula One simply can't agree, even in the most extreme circumstances. The FIA didn't seem to want to help either. Formula One should be deeply ashamed of itself today, it lost all semblance of common sense here at Indianapolis. Pinch me! Did I really see this?!" It was almost as though the FIA and through them Ferrari were trying to humiliate the Michelin tyre company, but they failed to bear in mind the most important people at the race track, not Charlie Whiting, not the drivers, not the teams, but the public watching on TV around the world and those who parted with hard earned cash to attend the race meeting in person. If he was instrumental in obstructing all the solutions, I hope Jean Todt now realises the stupidity of the situation in hindsight

Do you know about the 2008 brickyard 400 nascar race at indy? It was almost as much of a farce. Good year brought some shitty ass tires that couldnt last more than 10 laps with the new high dowforce stock cars and the repaved speedway. It was solved By putting the pace car every 10 laps for pitting and changing tires. Highly regarded as the worst ever nascar race. Attendance dropped HARD after that race in the brickyard 400.

Michelin Tyres, the Pirellis of the V10 era. No wonder they chose Bridgstones from 2007 to 2010. But seriously tho, the No Tyre Change rule was the major f**k up of the 2005 US GP

"If it could be thrown, it ended up on the track." Yup, that's where my my Foster's "oil can" ended up. Then I left. I got my ticket money back from Michelin, but I live here, I didn't spend a fortune on airfare and hotels.

I always appreciate that Olav Mol and Jack Plooij allowed Paul Stoddart to give full vent to the proceedings. I always feel a bit frustrated with this whole charade of not swearing on live TV. The Dutch often say that English swearwords are nothing in comparison to theirs and having seen some of the *ahem* examples, I'm inclined to agree. Two things I would like to put out from my perspective 1. I watched the whole thing with incredulity. I couldn't believe what was happening and felt like I was watching history. Stupid really since when I look back on it now, this event had done a lot to sour my feelings towards F1. 2. Even with all my grasp of the machinations of F1 at the time, I could not understand why Moseley couldn't just allow Bridgestone to supply the tyres for all the teams if it had come to the worst. The fact that Jean Todt is now the successor just makes me think it was the perfect handover. I was hoping Ari Vatanen won as it would've been a clean break the toxic shitshow that went before.

The Paul Stoddart interview at the end made that the icing on the cake...and I now dislike Todt, Schmacher and Ferrari that little bit more than I thought possible

It would have been best if Bridgestone, Michelin and F1 came to an agreement where Bridgestone provided all teams with tyres for the one race with the cost of the tyre contracts of F1 teams for that race being covered by Bridgestone. As an incentive for Bridgestone to agree, F1 could sign a contract with them as sole tyre supplier for F1 for the next 3 years or something. Bridgestone would gain exponentially from the publicity boost over their rival tyre company which would far exceed the money they would pay to cover the Michelin contracts for the one race, F1 would have had a competitive race and Michelin would recoup some funds from the contract covering by Bridgestone but still lose out a lot in damaged reputation (albeit not as much as they did through the fiasco that actually ensued)

I’m not going to lie. the 8 year old Ferrari mad fan who had no clue of the politics of f1 that I was in 2005 loved this Grand Prix

3 years later, NASCAR will have their 2005 US GP

1st vid of yours I've watched. The commentary at the end is worth listening to alone - but your explanation was an excellent setup of the historical facts. very good vid - if only to see the depth of the hurt this caused so many.

The best example of the "Ferrari problem" in "recent" years. F1 needed Ferrari more than Ferrari needed F1. While this is not as true as it once was, Ferrari still have HUGE leverage and influence.

There's a small factor you are forgetting and a person you are missing out Tony George and Indianapolis liability laws. Changes to the course have to go through testing, therefore putting an untested/bodged chicane in at short notice leaves the FIA and indy motor speedway liable for getting sued/prosecuted if someone was to be injured or killed due to an accident because of that chicane. George did mention this at the time, I'm not an apologist for Mosley however, I do feel that his hands were tied by George.

Great video as always, Aidan! I was waiting for you to cover this race, and you've delivered!

They should’ve put the chicane in but altered the way points were handed out. The teams that were on Bridgestone should’ve been listed as 1st through 6th based on where they finished amongst each other with full points awarded. To incentivize the other teams to still race they should’ve placed them starting from 1st to last amongst each other as well, but only awarded half points to each driver.

Just remember the 2008 Brickyard 400, basically the same. But in that case they actually forced the drivers to pit after like 20 laps and threw a caution because of that

Karma has struck Michelin since Ferrari had similar issues in Spain and Michelin teams refused to find for solutions. The 2005 season alone is the evidence why F1 has single tyre supplier today and for years to come - now it's Pirreli. And Ferrari wanted ugly win more than beautiful loss no matter if there were 6, 10 or event 22 cars on start. Speaking of Stoddart - this was not the first case he butted heads with Ferrari and FIA. In the same year he wanted to race the 2004-spec PS04 as the PS05 was not ready (while the Jordan EJ15 was ready) for the Australian GP and everyone agreed except for one - Ferrari. But wait, there's more - Stoddart was even banned for the next two years (later overturned) after badmouthing how FIA favors Ferrari (hence the FIA = Ferrari International Assistance). Eventually PS conceded defeat, used modified PS04B for the first few races of the season and eventually sold the team to Red Bull, who morphed it into Scuderia Toro Rosso.

The Head Movement is a catastrophe...

Is that Stoddard being interviewed?

Wasn't the deal between Minardi and Toro Rosso confirmed not long after this race? Was Stoddart's public humiliation of the FIA the reason why that was pushed through so quickly?

If you haven't noticed: Today car racing is a show that is used to make money. The US way of life has made F1 racing into a money machine. I visited Silverstone, UK in the summer of 1973 to watch the F1 race. You could walk in the garages while the mechanics worked in the cars, - no questions asked. Saturday, after the last races, I walked the complete circuit together with many other fans. Unfortunately, the gate was closed when I returned to the entry road. Being young, 19 years, I could climb the fence and get back to our tent. Entry fee was £3 at Saturday and £6 on Sunday. The race at Sunday was good, though. Of 36 starting the race, only 18 was left after first lap, - that was what was announced through the speakers. I was fortunate, the British guy next to me at the Becketts corner had a TV set and a battery to receive real time picture from the Blimp circling above the track. --- Today, you will have to empty your bank account to get in to a F1 garage and, at the same time, be someone special.

My parents and I went to this race. My dad and I are huge f1 fans and it was huge trip for us to see a race especially because it was the last year with v10s. It was incredible... Then the news started coming in about Michelin. Practices qualifying were incredible to see in person with v10s f1 cars blasting around Indy. Then all the teams pulled in and everyone went beserk. Absolutely terrible.

Always nice to hear Jack.

U.S. GP @ Phoenix ran for THREE years: '89, '90, '91, I was there for all three years!

I was at this race. What a disappointment for my first race in person. Luckily got to see Hamilton clinch the championship at Austin a few years back.

God I love the comic relief in your videos

It was karma for the FIA bringing in a rule to specifically stop Ferrari’s dominance, Michelin brought dangerous tyres in 2004 and were lucky Ralf was not more grievously hurt and Alonso’s tyre failed after the final turn and didn’t do their due diligence in bringing tyres safe enough to last in 2005. People can try and blame the Bridgestone teams, Ferrari, Schumacher etc. all they want but hey they had tyres which would last the race it is not their problem or their responsibility, they’d be and had been punished enough having to endure a wasted season due to the disparities in tyres because the FIA blatantly changed the rules to stop a team from being competitive. The FIA and Michelin made their bed they had to go sleep in it.

I mean considering that the stupid tyre rule was specifically implemented to screw ferrari over I don't see why ferrari wouldn't take the opportunity to get a win. fair play imo, the stupid rule (which was requested by Michelin mind you) ended up bouncing back on those team's faces.

2021 Belgian Grand Prix: Hold my beer

One aspect of the fiasco that isn't mentioned much, Bernie Ecclestone. He had an option to postpone the race if fewer than 12 or 14 cars were able to race (in reference to the mass boycott of the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix). He did not exercise this, which would have avoided any embarrassment, avoided anger of the fans and above all prevented the sport being damaged in the USA. If they had taken measures to allow the fans who bought tickets for the originally scheduled race had been allowed to attend the rescheduled race, it would have been a small inconvenience compared to the fury that followed in the aftermath of what actually happened

What annoys me about F1, and especially back in the 1980's to the mid 2000's, was the amount of things being changed, often for just the sake of change. A lot of time it should have been a case of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Nice vid Aidan,. I was there. Craziest race weekend I'll ever attend.

Is the gaming footage from Geoff Crammond's GP4 by chance? Also, I used to live near Watkins Glen and if you go to the IMRRC (International Motor Racing Research Center) an expansion of the local library dedicated to all literature in Motorsports, you can see the original Winner's trophy of the USGP there. I held it. Lauda, Hill, Iykx... So many names, so many legends touched that trophy and I got to hold it... One of the best moments in my racing life.

You should make a storytime on the 2007 Brickyard 400

The audio at the end is priceless.

What is the one thing the driver's are most concerned about? Tires!

That Stoddard clip at the end is pure brilliance.

The head is bobbling as if the music were really playing in the car. Talk about immersion!

Now I feel like grabbing a bag of crisps for some reason.

I'm a Formula 1 fan from the US. Or at least I was, until DRS, Kers, etc. Had I been there, I would have been most happy to see a chicane added to properly level the playing field, make the race even more like non-US non-oval races, and see a good show put on.

A chicane in my opinion

I have to admit though, the sound of 2 Ferrari, 2 Toyota, and 2 Cosseh V10s is really incredible.

Mandating a minimum tire pressure would have fixed it. They were only blowing out because of the low pressures they were running to handle the infeild section which made too much lateral load around the oval part. If the teams would have ran the pressure Michelin wanted them to run it would have been safe. But the Michelin teams are to blame for being too greedy with the setups. So to say Michelin brought an unsafe tire was a bit unfair since the teams were basically running flat tires for better grip. They could have just aired up to a safe number recommended by the manufacturer and we could have had a race.

I wish I could find my copy of the US broadcast of that race with the US announcers losing their patience with the race and Machete, Hobbs, and Daly going off at Bernie at regular intervals

If I was in charge of the 2005 US Grand Prix or the 2005 United States Grand Prix, same thing…. I would have said Yes to the chicane. I would have also permitted the race to be a Non Championship round. And of course I would have allowed the Michelin runners to pit every 10 laps to fix their as per the rules. All this stuff that Max Mosley should have done in the first place.

can i swear on your tv station" haha 15:40

Love the interview at the end... and the animation 😂

i AM SO HAPPY YOU PUT THE COMMENTARY IN AT THE END!!!! FUCKING BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!11

“On this day, I see clearly...” Props for Metalingus playing in the background 👌🏻

IMS had launched a box lunch program in the 2000's. With Foster's stepping up adverts at the track, the box lunches came with the option of getting 2 Foster's Lager oil cans. By 5 minutes into the race, people were throwing their full unopened Foster's 32oz. beers at Schumacher and Barrichello. The cans were flying right over our heads at the end of the front straight. We left 15 minutes in, fearing riots. My dad didn't watch another GP and still dislikes F1. That was the last GP I have been to.

i think its amazing how passionate sttotard is..........he had 2 cars on the track !!!

You single handedly got me interested in f1. Keep it up you do a great job with this channel. I tried to watch a few other guys. No one does what you do. Every video makes me laugh. Cheers mate in my best English accent. Oh yeah, coooooooooooooooooooswooooooorth hahahahahah

I watched this race on TV, and it was an incredible scenario as the announcers were trying to go between chastising fans (rightly) for throwing things on the track, to endless variations of "this is what track day looks like" to just trying to understand the absolute insanity that they were watching. What a crazy moment in F1 history-and somehow after leaving Indy, F1 is now not only in Texas but also Miami and Vegas next year (though how long the other two last could be another story entirely)

I think you're giving Max Mosely an unfairly hard time. He says to this day that if they had broken their own rules and changed the track after qualifying, the risk far outweighed the reward. If something had gone wrong with a chicane in place, the FIA would probably have been barred by an Indianan judge from ever racing again at Indy. Charlie Whiting's point is also correct - a chicane would have unfairly advantaged the Michelin runners. A similar situation had happened with Bridgestone at Barcelona that season where Schumacher's tyres failed one by one during the race and they got no sympathy from Michelin at all. Once the cars qualified on the Saturday afternoon, nothing could be changed under the FIA's own rules. And therein lies the problem. The only solution was for the FIA to pull out and make it a non-championship race - I believe the teams had made an agreement they wouldn't knowingly do anything illegal if that were to happen - and that's where Todt's veto comes in. From a sporting and safety perspective, the 6-car race was the only thing that they could do. And (take note, Liberty) the sport must come ahead of the "show". Bernie understood this. The only other alternative was leave it up to the drivers individually, but that creates all sorts of issues around being pressurised by an unscrupulous boss to get into an unsafe car, although notably Coulthard (who had qualified somewhere near Mexico) was begging on the formation lap over the radio to be allowed to start. Michael Schumacher countered that quite well by drawing comparisons to Monza 2001, whereupon the drivers wanted to start under yellow flags for the first lap in response to the death of Paolo Gislimberti in 2000, but some of the team bosses would not allow their drivers to honour them.

You blamed the FIA for not putting in the chicane, yet it was well known that they could have been brought up on manslaughter/murder charges had something gone wrong and someone killed.

The ONLY party involved that acted correctly was the Hulmam George family. Fans were taken care of. I went to every g.p. at indy, and paid full price for a 06 ticket. Whereas I could have had a free one.

I remember that race, it was... wow. A chicane would've been the most elegant solution.

Wow, I remember this race. Wish I didn't.

I have said this many times on many videos regarding this farce of Indianapolis 2005 and I'll say it again here. The FIA is at 100% blame for ALL of it. Not only that forcing a race with defective unsafe tires puts everyone at risk, but it is COMPLETELY RECKLESS to do so knowing that the tires have caused harm, injury, or even DEATH to the users and general public. I mean the defective tires were the reason why Ralf Schumacher got hurt "per se" in the Toyota and that should have been a red flag to begin with, but obviously the FIA under cold Max Mosley REFUSED and left Michelin no choice but to tell the teams "Withdraw from the race OR we face criminal charges in the U.S." and withdraw is what they did because Had the teams on Michelin tires raced; EVERYBODY involved meaning the Michelin tire company, teams, drivers, F1 Management Group, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, AND the FIA ALL could've faced criminal charges in the U.S. for using defective unsafe products under Gross Negligence. It even took a motorsports hearing several weeks later for the FIA to drop it.

The FIA had proposed allowing tyre changes for this one race, but Michelin said that they couldn't supply enough tyres fast enough for the race weekend.

The video is giving me motion sickness. What game is this?? Just so I never accidentally get it...

Bridgestone offered help, even if they are a almost exclusive supplier of Ferrari. If you read a Ross Brawn and Adam Parr book, you can find that, Ferrari and Bridgestone works very very close. Ferrari peoples in Bridgestone and Bridgestone in Ferrari. Ross told, Ferrari almost insist that type of cooperation. I think that was also a big part of success of Ferrari between 1999-2004, tyres made specially for they car specs. If I remember that, Ross admit that.

I still remember sitting down getting ready to watch this farce (not a race) live when it all happened. The weird build up and then the formation lap when all the Michelin runners went into the pits. Even today it seems people still don't get the situation as it was (like Fitch93's post, not a hit on Aidan at all as this video was extremely well done and well informed). They still bring up that Michelin was at fault for not testing on the new surface. The reason being wasn't laziness or ineptitude on the part of Mechelin, it wasn't. It was that testing was simply put not allowed. Legally there was no way for Michelin to test on the surface, track or otherwise. Meaning that there was no way in knowing how the tyres would react to the track. Bridgestone had the advantage because they owned Firestone so had all the data from the Indy 500 and thus could make the tyres work. If you can't test on a surface you can't get data to know how to create tyres that work for the said surface. It's worse when the other team feeds you false information, which really should have been deemed criminal since people's lives were at stake.

Not sure if anyone has asked this already. But do you think Ferrari's reluctance to play along was in part because they felt that the one dry tyre per race was deliberately implimented to shaft them? And stop them from winning?

9:26. The way you said “asked” instantly tells me you’re a Northerner.

Maybe mosley and Todd were more than mates hey lol

that A10 warthog edit was great

If Mosely had forced the Michelin teams to race, knowing that Michelin couldn't guarantee the tyres lasting more than 10-15 laps, and the worst had happened, then as the man who bears ultimate responsibility for the FIA, the organising border, would have found themselves in hot water. As Martin Brundle said before the"race", "if one of these tyres blows, drivers hurt, corner workers hurt or a piece ends up in the crowd, everybody is on the hook and that really is what it's all about at the moment." In other words, they would have faced charges (if there had been incidents that lead to the injuries or deaths of anyone) of negligence and or manslaughter for every injury or death that had occurred. There were plenty of options available to enable a race with all teams and drivers to take place to save face for everyone, but the FIA chose to take the assist Ferrari in their best chance to win a race in 2005 instead

Is that Edge's theme in the background?

Was it not also pointed out that if the teams went out and raced and an accident happened, they could have been sued millions - if not billions - under the State law?

I was about too change the video...then I heard the epic interview

True story... That was the last time I watched or had anything to do with F1. Sad that one even ruined my love for this racing sport.

Was there Live. Fans misbehaved- what they didn't realize is that they were at one of the most odd/UNIQUE races that will ever be in the history of F1.

Watkins or Sebring for another GP in the US, just not Miami.

Those sentences the FIA gave to the Michelin-shod teams were overturned on appeal; claiming if they had raced, they would have been charged with reckless endangerment under Indiana state law.

FERRARI INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE

One thing you did miss in this video was this was the end of F1 at Indy. This was a spectacular race was the F1s can flying out of the banked final corner and allow for something we rarely see inF1... overtaking. F1 is now racing in Texas but this will never hold the prestigious position of the Indy race and nowhere near as enjoyable to watch. Hopefully F1 and Indy can mend the bridge now Penske owns the Brickyard.

Sjećam se utrke k'o da je jučer bila na HRT-u, Blažićko i Novak u čudu ostali, kakav skandal u Formuli 1, a Paulova izjava je legendarna 😄😄

Definitely pit, I remember watching that race. I thought at the time that it was too dangerous to add a chicane before the final corner at such a late point

Remember that Watkins Glen is very close to where the original Woodstock was... Party time!! I wish F1 raced at The Glen now - it's basically all high speed turns and an American version of Spa.

Me and my dad turned the TV off when 6 cars lined up

Sounds like the F1 version of the 1969 Talladega 500, a complete and utter FARCE.

Considering that Ferrari was fucked with the tyre rule to make them stop winning it was just a sad season all round. Would have loved to be able to see them all race it out with tyre changes to see who would win.. Then this happened to completely wreck that season that was already utterly shit to watch!!

Ah yes, 2005 F1 season. When little 7 year old Helena didn't like F1 and couldn't understand how all those guys could drive around in circles for 50/60 laps. 😂🤦 Now I'm a huge F1 fan and a fan of Danny Ric.

I was a 12-year old Ferrari and Schumacher fan that day excited for the race prior to the start, and then stunned when all the Michelin runners pulled off after the formation lap. And even though most of the time I only wanted Michael/Ferrari to win, I thought that this was an absolutely awful race that they shouldn’t have gone ahead with.

To be fair, if the FIA staff had gone home and the teams took over, and something had gone wrong, they would be tried for manslaughter

Awesome Video.

I think Michelin should have allowed to the teams run the Bridgestone tires (but maybe scrub off the Bridgestone logos and apply Michelin logos) edit: say it with your entire chest, Paul

I guess u could say some chicanery was involved!

The Indy 500 counted as a round of the world championship in the 1950s but the European teams rarely if ever competed. The banking at the newly redeveloped Zandvooort is steeper than Indy

The biggest entertainment to be had out of this race was the Paul Stiddart interview he did on a foreign TV station where was told that yes he actually can swear this channel half way through the interview.

tbf the FIA was told that it would be liable if anyone crashed on the altered course, which is part of the reason Max flipped his shit.