The 2005 United States Grand Prix was the ninth of 19 Rounds in the 2005 Formula One World Championship, and the sixth time it was held at the 4.192 km Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield road course.

It took place on the 19th of June 2005 and was formally called the XXXIV Foster’s United States Grand Prix.

Before the event, Renault driver Fernando Alonso led the World Drivers’ Championship with 59 points, ahead of McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen with 37 points and Toyota’s Jarno Trulli with 27 points. Renault also led the World Constructors’ Championship with 76 points ahead of McLaren in second on 63 points, with Williams and Toyota tied for third with 47 points each.

In 2005, three teams were using Bridgestone tyres with the rest of the grid using Michelin. The rules for 2005 forbade tyre changes during a race – unless there was a valid safety concern – meaning the drivers had to make one set of tyres last the entire race distance.

Across the start of the season, McLaren had performed the best with this rule – supplying Renault and McLaren as the two teams divided the wins between them. However, Indianapolis revealed a fundamental problem with Michelin’s tyre construction.

The banked final corner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway created unique stresses on the tyres, which was amplified by the fact that the surface of that particular section of the oval had been repaved since the 2004 Grand Prix.

The first indication of problems with the tyres was when Ralf Schumacher suffered a huge crash at the banked final corner during the Friday’s Practice session. A catastrophic left-rear tyre failure caused Schumacher to slam hard into the outside wall and rendered him sidelined from the rest of the race weekend. Ricardo Zonta took his place in the Toyota, only for the team to discover the same extensive cuts to his tyres after practice.

Michelin’s boss Pierre Dupasquier addressed the problem with FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, claiming that the cars needed to be slowed down through the banked section in order to ensure the safety of their tyres. Michelin proposed changes to ensure this safety, including flying in a new specification of tyres as well as a temporary chicane being installed at the same corner – although these were both denied by Whiting, with the FIA stating that if the track layout was changed then they would not sanction the race.

Pre-Race Meeting

A meeting was called on the morning of race day which saw Michelin executives and technical bosses meet with the head of F1 Bernie Ecclestone, Indianapolis Speedway president Tony George, and nine of the 10 team bosses.

Michelin outlined the position they were in and the danger that the race could not proceed with their teams competing. Their simple request was the installation of a chicane at Turn 13 – an idea that was agreed to by all nine attending teams – including Jordan’s Colin Kolles and Minardi’s Stoddart who both managed teams running the opposing Bridgestone tyres. 

At the same meeting, the panel denied the possibility of slowing the Michelin cars through the corner’s normal layout, as well as that of multi-pit stops. Whilst the majority of those in attendance agreed to the compromise in the interest of the sport and the fans, Ferrari’s Jean Todt voted against it, supporting the view of FIA President Max Mosley who told his senior staff that ”if any attempts were made to alter the circuit, he would cancel the Grand Prix forthwith”.

The 2005 United States Grand Prix

At the beginning of the race, all 20 drivers lined up on the grid per the FIA race procedure. As Charlie Whiting signalled the green light for the start of the formation lap, all cars set off for the formation lap, however, once they reached the banked Turn 13 – coincidently the entrance to the pit lane and the controversial corner – all teams that were running the Michelin tyres returned to their pit box areas, leaving only the six cars from the three Bridgestone teams (Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi) to start the race.

The Grand Prix continued to run as normal with the Ferrari’s leading and only having to worry about negotiating the occasional beer can or rubbish debris on the racing line as fans tossed objects over the catch fencing onto the track.

All six cars completed the race and took the chequered flag, with Schumacher taking victory ahead of Barrichello, and Jordan’s Tiago Monteiro claiming the final podium spot. Minardi claimed seven points as Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher finished in fifth and sixth place.

At the podium ceremony, none of the scheduled dignitaries were present, with the Ferrari team members quietly accepting their awards and exiting the podium quickly. There were also few fans left to watch as the crowds began to disperse angrily early on in the race – the Indianapolis police were called to help maintain order as thousands of fans had made their way to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ticket office to demand refunds.

FIA’s Response

The FIA released a statement in an attempt at damage control and blamed the teams for “bringing the wrong equipment to the race”, whilst stating that the last-minute addition of a chicane would have left the FIA legally exposed due to the track being altered without “following any of the modern safety procedures”.

The seven teams that ran the Michelin tyres that weekend were summoned before the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) to give their reasons as to why they had withdrawn from the race, which was in violation of the Concorde agreement – a contract between the FIA, Formula One teams and the Formula One Group which dictates the terms by which the teams compete in races, and how the television revenues and prize money is shared, with the intent of encouraging professionalism and increase the commercial success of Formula One.

All seven teams were charged with violating the International Sporting Code, on the following grounds:

• Failed to ensure availability of suitable tyres for the race.
• Wrongfully refused to allow cars to start the race.
• Wrongfully refused to allow cars to race subject to speed restrictions at one corner, which was safe for such tyres available.
• Combined with other teams to make a demonstration damaging to the image of Formula 1 by pulling into the pits immediately before the start of the race.
• Failed to notify the stewards of their intention not to race.

The WMSC found the teams guilty of not being in possession of suitable tyres for the United States GP, albeit “with strong mitigating circumstances”. Three weeks later, this decision was overturned with those teams running the Michelin tyres being exonerated after both McLaren’s Ron Dennis and Red Bull’s Christian Horner claiming that State Law in Indiana meant the teams could have faced criminal charges for ‘knowingly putting others at risk’.

Aftermath

On the 28th of June, Michelin announced that it would offer compensation to all race fans who had purchased tickets for the Grand Prix, with the company planning to issue refund cheques through the Speedway ticket office for the price of all tickets for the race by the end of the September. Additionally, they purchased 20,000 tickets for the 2006 United States Grand Prix to be distributed to those spectators who attended the 2005 race.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway boss Tony George opted against renewing F1’s contract with the track past the 2007 season, despite crowd numbers remaining around the 100,000 mark in the 2007 and 2007 season.

This caused the United States Grand Prix to fall off the calendar until 2012 when Formula 1 returned to Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, proving popular in the years since. However, numbers of viewers in the US increasing could also be contributed to the sale of F1 from Ecclestone’s CVC to Liberty Media – a US media corporation.