Oh dear, oh dear, prepare for the farce

[angst]

The FIA have refused to follow Michelin's demands that they have clearly defined rules regarding the depth of grooves at the end of the tyres use. They will, apparently, demand that the tyres will be grooved and will take action against any company who tries to gain an advantage by sidestepping this.
This all seems very vague and muddled to me, but I don't think we should be overly surprised by this turn of events. Basically this is Max's baby and he's not big enough to admit the whole idea is utterly flawed.
Michelin have declared they will cause chaos by a systematic series of protests unless the issue is clarified.
Just what we need, more politics and bullsh*t, which I don't blame Michelin for. How can the FIA expect such a vague rule to work?
But then, it's just given me an idea. New rule. No wings or diffusers in F1, the FIA will decide what is and is not a wing/diffuser and punish any teams who hope to gain an advantage from such.....hmmmmmmmm(rubs chin)

[Ed-f1]

It seems pretty simple to clarify the rulkes to me. Just specify a minimum goove depth for the end of the race. If there are no changes in regulations I don't see how anyone could be disqualified for running on effevtively slick tyres because they won't have broken any of the regulations as long as the grooves were there at the start.

[angst]

But that's the point, by not clarifying the regs on this point the FIA are merely pointing out the obvious faults in the whole cocept. They don't want to specify a minimum depth at the end of use of the tyre because
a)It would be a massive task checking each tyre and
b)The teams would be constantly changing tyres just to ensure that nobody got a DQ. There's no way the teams could monitor the 'groove-wear' during a race and because there are two tyre companies involved, the competition would enure that everyone would be on the margins of legality.
Effectively the tyre companies could make tyres with grooves that rub off within half a lap or so, leaving the cars with slicks. To combat this the FIA have said hey will take action against any company they believe to be trying to gain an advantage of the ambiguity.
So my point is that the FIA have an unworkable regulation, and rather than admit as much they are fudging the issue completely. So, because Max has said this is what is good, then regardless of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary this is what F1 will have.
So basically expect absolute chaos next year because Max knows best.

[pit rat]

Beats me why we're talking about this. At the end of the race the boys drive over every bit of crud possible to add weight - won't this crud fill in the tread grooves anyway?