F1 tire rule and Ferrari

[RocketmanX]

What does everyone think of the FIA ruling on the tire rule?
More importantly how about the fact that Ferarri made the complaint so late in the season when they're bid for the championship, and the performance for the past few weeks, is now very close and not dominant as it was last year?

I think the complaint waged by Ferarri is a bit like a couple kids playing and the one that always wins starts getting his butt kicked and starts crying foul even though before when they were dominant the rule didn't seem to matter. Basicaly I think it stinks!

David Hobbs made mention today that Ferarri probably knew about this last year but saved "an ace up their sleeve" for this type of situation, meaning the championship battle and the fact that Williams now has to contend with new tires late in the season and during a tightly fought points race. He made it sound as if that were smart strategy but I think anyone with any sort of class and sportsmanship would have brought it up last year.
I think it comes down to Ferarri not liking the fact they aren't dominant right now.

I like Michael and especially Rubens (he seems like a cool guy and has a good sense of humor) but I find it very hard to respect Ferarris team owners and team when they make such a protest in an effort to win when Williams is just plain old out running them latley. The tire change didn't seem to hurt any of the affected teams today and if Dematta wouldn't have had such a bad day on final qualifying he actually looked much faster on Friday. It's nothing more than a bitter attempt to not lose, which they obviously can't stomach.
Being a good sport is usually considered to be a gracious winner and a good loser. Unless you're Ferarri and in F1 I guess

[Thorburn]

i have mixed feelings on this one. to be fair the pictures of the worn tyres with the excess tread were from hungury and it could just be that the tyres were pushed too hard and it hadn't been spotted before, in which case they did need to be changed, it would be like an athlete drinking Brand X drink then one day someone discovering it contained performance enhancers that were deemed illegal or something, once a breach of the rules has been determined it must be acted upon.
That said I don't want Schumacher to win the title and anything that helps Ferrari is bad in my books right now

[RocketmanX]

I agree that rules infractions shold be acted upon but, the comments being made by the likes of Mr. Hobbs are that it was probably know about last year. That's what burns me, I think they probably did know last year. They're far too bright a group of individuals to have not noticed before. If I were in F1 it's a rules "grey area" I would have taken advantage of in the same way. For Ferarri to have not seen this possibilty with the tire designs until now is hard for me to believe. If this is the case then it seems a pretty crappy way to win a championship, that is if they actualy did withhold on that knowledge until now. If NOT then I would be 100% for their complaint to FIA. 3/4's of an inch per wheel would gain considerable help in tire wear, especially considering the more the tire wore the wider it got. Smart engineering on Michelins part. It did comply to the FIA rule it's just that the rule only stated "before" the race unlike all other rules which pretty much state that their specs will remain constant throughout the event.

Oh well, really kinda of a moot point now considering that Montoya was very fast regardless of the tire change. It's Ferarris tactics, ex: Team orders..... , that make me feel they are the "spoiled brat" of F1 and can't stand to lose.

[Thorburn]

they might have known about it before, but we still can't really crussify them on a might, after all Hungury is a pretty much unique track in terms of speeds and grip, it may just be michelin messed up and made the compound too soft.

[Methanoid]

Definitely sour grapes.. did U hear that Bridgestone tyres (Ferrari's) are now under investigation also as they may be made of diff compounds for front and rear (that is illegal) as well as wear unevenly (also illegal)...

Here's for Schumacher being disqualified!

[Big RICHARD]

Also, what about Ferrari (secretly) having traction control when it was still banned?

Somebody once said (it might have been Coulthard),

'How can a misfiring Ferrari pull away from a corner that has been taken quite untidily much quicker than me, who got it very smooth with the engine running perfectly?'