Why Only 6 Cars Raced the 2005 US Grand Prix
Only six cars raced the 2005 United States Grand Prix because all 14 cars on Michelin tyres pulled into the pits after the formation lap. Michelin could not guarantee its tyres would survive the banked Turn 13 at Indianapolis, the FIA would not approve a chicane to slow the cars, and Ferrari would not agree to one. That left the two Ferraris, two Jordans and two Minardis, all on Bridgestone tyres, to start the race in front of a crowd of roughly 100,000 to 130,000.
The short answer
On Sunday 19 June 2005, round 9 of 19, twenty cars left the pits for the formation lap at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. At the end of that lap, 14 of them turned into the pit lane and stopped. Six cars lined up on the grid, and the race ran its full 73 laps with just those six.
The 14 were every car running Michelin tyres: BAR, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Sauber, Toyota and Williams, two cars each. The six that raced ran Bridgestone tyres: Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi. The reason the Michelin cars withdrew was a tyre problem at one corner, and the fact that nobody involved could agree a fix.
Formula One kept racing at Indianapolis until 2007, then left America completely for four years.
The track and the corner that mattered
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the home of the Indy 500, a giant oval with a road course built inside it. From 2000 to 2007 Formula One raced there clockwise, using part of the oval and a twisty section through the infield. One lap of the 2005 layout was 4.192 kilometres, with the Pagoda tower overlooking the start line.
The corner that decided the weekend was the last one, Turn 13. It is one of the oval's own turns, banked at 9 degrees 12 minutes, and it fed the cars onto the main straight. On a banked corner the car is pressed down into the track and pushed out towards the wall at the same time, and in Turn 13 that load lasted a long time. Most of it went through one tyre, the left rear.
That detail matters because every part of the story that follows comes back to that single tyre.
Friday: two failures in one day
On Friday 17 June, Ricardo Zonta's Toyota suffered a left rear tyre failure in practice, and his Michelin deflated and sent him spinning. Later that day Ralf Schumacher's Toyota had the same failure at Turn 13 and hit the wall hard.
Ralf had crashed at the same corner a year earlier, in a Williams, and had suffered spinal fractures that broke his back. This time he climbed out, but the paddock was rattled. Toyota then found cuts in the sidewall of Jarno Trulli's left rear tyre, and Michelin heard of similar problems from other teams that ran its product.
A single failure can be a one-off. Two left rear failures on the same day, at a corner with a history, pointed to something systematic.
Why the Michelin tyres failed
2005 was a tyre war. Michelin and Bridgestone each supplied their own teams, and a new rule meant one set of tyres had to last the whole race.
Michelin later said the load on the left rear through Turn 13 was far higher than its engineers had calculated. Engineers at the time described the sidewall rippling under the strain, like a wave running around the tyre, until it could give way.
Michelin flew in a different tyre, the type used at the Spanish Grand Prix, from its base at Clermont-Ferrand. In testing it showed the same problem. By Saturday Michelin had no tyre it could say was safe for the full race distance.
Saturday: the letter and the pole
Michelin wrote to its seven teams. Signed by Dupasquier and Shorrock, the letter said the company could not guarantee the tyres would be safe for more than ten laps unless the cars slowed down in Turn 13. The race was 73 laps long.
Michelin's advice to its teams was to raise tyre pressures, keep runs short and run light on fuel. The teams drove carefully, and Trulli still took pole position, the first pole Toyota had ever taken in Formula One. Overnight, Michelin sent sample tyres to its research base in Ohio to look for an answer. By Sunday morning it still did not have one.
The standoff: a chicane nobody would approve
The Michelin teams proposed a temporary chicane before Turn 13 to slow the cars. Tyres were moved out to begin building one. FIA race director Charlie Whiting refused and ordered them back: a changed circuit would not be approved, the circuit would lose its homologation, and he said the race would no longer count for the championship.
The FIA offered alternatives. Cars could be limited in speed through Turn 13, they could change tyres during the race, or they could run different tyres and take a penalty. The Michelin teams turned them down.
On race morning there was one last push for the chicane. Ferrari's Jean Todt would not agree to it, and FIA president Max Mosley would not sanction a changed circuit. Minardi owner Paul Stoddart later claimed Mosley threatened to cancel the race. The FIA denied that.
Other ideas followed. One was to hold the race with a chicane but without championship points. That fell apart too, partly because the organisers worried about the consequences for their other FIA events in the United States. Toyota also said it had been warned that racing on a tyre it knew to be unsafe could risk criminal liability under Indiana law.
Nine teams agreed they would not race without a deal. Just before the start, Jordan reversed its decision, and Minardi followed.
Six cars on the grid
All 20 cars left on the formation lap as normal. At the end of it, coming off Turn 13, the 14 Michelin cars peeled into the pit lane and stopped. Six cars lined up on an enormous empty grid: Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello for Ferrari, Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan for Jordan, and Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher for Minardi.
The crowd, estimated at between 100,000 and 130,000, reacted with boos. Some fans threw bottles and cans onto the track, others left, and some went straight to the ticket office to ask for their money back. Banners appeared in the stands asking for a black flag and a restart.
Michael Schumacher won. It was his only win of 2005. On lap 51 he left the pits alongside team mate Barrichello and forced him onto the grass at Turn 1. Barrichello finished second, 1.522 seconds behind.
Monteiro took third for Jordan, his only podium in Formula One, and celebrated as if he had won. Karthikeyan was fourth, and both Minardis scored points as well. All four of those drivers scored their first ever Formula One points that day. The Jordans finished a lap down and the Minardis two laps down, but all six cars finished. Even the podium was held to the sound of boos.
The fallout and what changed
Michelin offered refunds for race day tickets and bought 20,000 tickets to the 2006 race for the fans who had been there. The World Motor Sport Council found the seven Michelin teams guilty on 29 June, then cleared them on 22 July.
Michelin won 18 of the 19 races in 2005, with Indianapolis the exception. In December it announced it would leave Formula One at the end of 2006, as the sport moved towards a single tyre supplier from 2008.
Formula One kept racing at Indianapolis until 2007 and has not raced on the road course since. There was then no United States race from 2008 to 2011, until the series returned at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin in 2012. In 2026 there are three American races: Miami, Austin and Las Vegas.
Who was to blame?
Each party had a reason. Michelin brought a tyre that could not survive one corner at that load. The FIA refused to change the track. Ferrari refused to help find a compromise. The people who paid for it were the fans, who sat through a six car race and booed the podium.
It is a story about what happens when a safety problem meets a sporting argument and no one with the power to settle it is willing to give way.
FAQ
Why did only 6 cars race at the 2005 US Grand Prix?
All 14 cars on Michelin tyres withdrew after the formation lap because Michelin could not guarantee its tyres were safe at the banked Turn 13. Only the six Bridgestone cars, from Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi, started the race.
Who won the 2005 US Grand Prix?
Michael Schumacher won for Ferrari. It was his only win of the 2005 season. Rubens Barrichello was second, 1.522 seconds behind, and Tiago Monteiro of Jordan was third.
Why did the Michelin tyres fail at Indianapolis?
The left rear tyre took a very high load through the banked Turn 13, far higher than Michelin had calculated. Engineers described the sidewall rippling under the strain until it could give way. Ralf Schumacher crashed there on Friday after a left rear failure.
Why was there no chicane at the 2005 US Grand Prix?
The FIA's Charlie Whiting refused to approve one because a changed circuit would lose its homologation. Ferrari's Jean Todt would not agree to it, and FIA president Max Mosley would not sanction a changed circuit.
What happened to the Michelin teams afterwards?
Michelin refunded race day tickets and bought 20,000 tickets for the 2006 race. The World Motor Sport Council found the Michelin teams guilty on 29 June 2005 and cleared them on 22 July. Michelin announced in December that it would leave Formula One after 2006.
When did Formula One last race at Indianapolis?
Formula One raced at Indianapolis until 2007 and has not used the road course since. The United States had no race from 2008 to 2011, and the series returned at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin in 2012.
SOURCES: Wikipedia, Autosport, Motorsport.com, RaceFans, PlanetF1, F1-Fansite, Frontstretch, CNN, Yahoo Sports, History.com, CCJ Digital, Tyrepress, RacingNews365, IndyCar
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