FIA reveal Michelin team charges (F1)

[gaijin]

FIA reveal Michelin team charges

The seven Michelin teams who pulled out of Sunday’s race at Indianapolis are to face charges of breaching the International Sporting Code by committing "one or more acts prejudicial to the interests of a competition, namely the 2005 United States Grand Prix, and/or to the interests of motor sport generally."

In identical letters to the seven team bosses published by the FIA on Tuesday, Formula One’s governing body, who has summoned the teams to appear before the World Motor Sport Council next Wednesday, listed a number of charges.

The charges given are that, according to the FIA, each team:

• failed to ensure that they had a supply of suitable tyres for the race
• wrongfully refused to allow their cars to start the race
• wrongfully refused to allow their cars to race, subject to a speed restriction in one corner which was safe for such tyres as they had available
• combined with other teams to make a demonstration damaging to the image of Formula One by pulling into the pits immediately before the start of the race
• failed to notify the stewards of their intention not to race, in breach of Article 131 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

Article 131 states: "The starting grid will be published four hours before the race. Any competitor whose car(s) is (are) unable to start for any reason whatsoever (or who has good reason to believe that their car(s) will not be ready to start) must inform the stewards accordingly at the earliest opportunity and, in any event, no later than 45 minutes before the start of the race.”

The FIA told the teams they will be sent a full dossier of the charges within the next 24 hours and invited them to send any comments they should have in writing prior to their meeting with the Council in Paris on June 29.