Someone else does too ...

trow · 23 Oct 2002, 12:37 (Ref:411181)

Staged Finish Is Formula for Disaster

_____From The Post_____

• Michael Schumacher let teammate Rubens Barrichello pass him to win the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday.

No driver in the history of Formula One racing ever sped to a season's championship faster than Michael Schumacher this year. The German simply was so flawless, and his Ferrari so powerful, that he clinched his fifth FIA World Drivers Title in July, 11 races into a 17-race season.

The feat put Schumacher in a class by himself, yet sucked the drama out of what remained of the 2002 Formula One season and sapped ticket sales for Sunday's U.S Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

So promoters took a bold tack in marketing the race, equating the chance to see Schumacher zoom past with the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Babe Ruth at bat, Pele score a World Cup goal or Walter Payton glide into the end zone.

For 72 laps, that's what race fans got on a glorious Indiana afternoon: a view of the world's best race-car driver performing in his prime, utterly without peer. Then, on the 73rd and final lap, they saw the world's best tank a finish.

In easing off the throttle to let his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, win the U.S. Grand Prix, Schumacher not only sullied his own reputation and subverted the basic concept of competition, but made a mockery of the ticket-buying public and likely set back Formula One's campaign to cultivate a North American audience.

For all but the last two turns of Sunday's U.S. Grand Prix, Schumacher was sheer perfection -- his entries and exits to each of the circuit's 13 turns as finely engineered as his red Ferrari race car. Then, having led start to finish, ceding the top spot only to duck into the pits for fuel and fresh tires, Schumacher slowed to a crawl as he headed for the checkered flag to let Barrichello, whose Ferrari had stalked him in vain all race, finish alongside.

The dead-heat finish Schumacher envisioned was spoiled, however, as the nose of Barrichello's Ferrari crossed the finish line imperceptibly ahead for the closest margin of victory (0.011 seconds) in F1 history.

But the outcome, at that point, was immaterial. What mattered was that it had been manipulated by Schumacher. And in doing so, the world's best race-car driver made a gross miscalculation.

To his credit, Schumacher didn't deny that he had staged the finish. It was an effort, he explained afterward, to atone for a manipulated finish earlier in the F1 season, when Barrichello, who drives what is considered the No. 2 Ferrari, was ordered by team manager Jean Todt to pull over on the last lap of the Austrian Grand Prix to ensure Schumacher's victory. Todt's strategy, considered acceptable to F1's rules makers, was to use the secondary Ferrari to enhance the primary Ferrari's bid for the season's championship.

With his fifth championship title in hand, Schumacher said he acted on his own Sunday, deciding to lay back on the final lap simply because Barrichello "deserved to win." Easing off the throttle was Schumacher's idea of returning a favor. And he acknowledged that not everyone would agree with his tactics.

What Schumacher failed to recognize was that the U.S. Grand Prix was a sporting event -- one that fans paid $45 to $140 to attend. It wasn't an occasion for a billionaire athlete, however well intentioned, to ease his conscience. If Schumacher had been so troubled by Barrichello's sacrifice in the May 12 Austrian Grand Prix, he could have given him a share of the winner's purse, rather than make a farce out of Sunday's finish.

In Europe, where the majority of F1 fans have grown weary of Ferrari's dominance and perceived arrogance this season, howls of protest went up immediately.

Stephen Bierley of the Guardian called Schumacher's actions a "disgrace" that reduced the sport to "a vapid contrivance."

F1 team owner Eddie Jordan predicted the staged finish would alienate the American fans the series had been trying to woo since returning to the United States in 2000. "People want to see real competition fought to the last ounce," Jordan said.

And that's the basic appeal of racing: the uncertainty of the outcome, whether greyhounds or thoroughbreds, soapbox derbies or $3 million F1 Ferraris.

Schumacher's actions sold racing's most glorious circuit short. What makes F1 distinct from all other forms of motor sports is that it represents the best, regardless of cost: the most gifted drivers, the fastest engines and the most aerodynamically sublime cars. With so much going for it, why manipulate it?

And why shortchange an American audience that already has less time for sports on a given fall weekend. Last Sunday's fare alone includes a full slate of NFL games, Major League Baseball and a riveting Ryder Cup.

Since the U.S. Grand Prix made its debut at Indianapolis in 2000, attendance has dropped more than 40 percent -- from 220,000 at the inaugural running to 125,000 last weekend.

The crowd that turned out Sunday no doubt marveled at the ear-splitting whine of 20 F1 cars zooming past at 190 mph, just as they surely marveled at the artistry and precision of the world-class pilots behind the wheel.

But from the moment F1 organizers marketed the U.S. Grand Prix as a race and charged admission, they promised to stage a competition. What they delivered instead was a fraud.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...&notFound=true

Sato san · 23 Oct 2002, 17:34 (Ref:411424)

Quote:

Originally posted by trow
But from the moment F1 organizers marketed the U.S. Grand Prix as a race and charged admission, they promised to stage a competition. What they delivered instead was a fraud.

spot on !.....couldnt agree more !

Maxmil · 23 Oct 2002, 18:23 (Ref:411471)

Indeed, one can only hope that media coverage like this will help in getting the message across to the F1 cabal that "crime" does not pay. Race On!

Liz · 23 Oct 2002, 18:41 (Ref:411492)

Quote:

Originally posted by trow
[B]Staged Finish Is Formula for Disaster

_____From The Post_____

• What Schumacher failed to recognize was that the U.S. Grand Prix was a sporting event -- one that fans paid $45 to $140 to attend. It wasn't an occasion for a billionaire athlete, however well intentioned, to ease his conscience. If Schumacher had been so troubled by Barrichello's sacrifice in the May 12 Austrian Grand Prix, he could have given him a share of the winner's purse, rather than make a farce out of Sunday's finish.

IMO this is exactly the part that Ferrari does not and will not understand. Could not have been stated more plainly. Hurrah!

Sato san · 23 Oct 2002, 18:45 (Ref:411495)

Quote:

Originally posted by Liz
IMO this is exactly the part that Ferrari does not and will not understand. Could not have been stated more plainly. Hurrah!

or certain members of this forum Liz !

NiceGuyEddie · 23 Oct 2002, 19:12 (Ref:411521)

The season is over. Stop whining about it.

Sato san · 23 Oct 2002, 19:31 (Ref:411546)

No !

Inigo Montoya · 23 Oct 2002, 20:08 (Ref:411581)

That poor horse, not quite dead yet, I guess... but continually being beaten...

JohnSSC · 23 Oct 2002, 20:37 (Ref:411621)

I will let the dead horse lie in peace. One question: Is there still prize money in F1? I never hear mention of a "purse" or "winnings/earnings."

Can anyone shed some light on this one for me?

f1manoz · 23 Oct 2002, 21:55 (Ref:411689)

I think they mean TGF should give Rubens a bit of his paycheque! It's not like he'll go hungry this winter without it.

ASCII Man · 23 Oct 2002, 21:58 (Ref:411692)

We could whine all winter long...

Liz · 26 Oct 2002, 00:25 (Ref:413773)

Silence implies consent.

Valve Bounce · 26 Oct 2002, 00:45 (Ref:413776)

Strangely, I was neither surprised nor disapointed. I had already gone to bed. It did cost me a point in the predictions competition, but heck, we wern't playing for sheepstations.

z2252314 · 26 Oct 2002, 04:16 (Ref:413812)

Its nice to see the off-season schumi bashing commence.

tanalised · 27 Oct 2002, 01:52 (Ref:414351)

what happened? I missed it. Oh thats right. I'd given up watching at that stage of the season