JUNE 20, 2005

The truth please, gentlemen

It would be nice if Formula 1 had some form as ombudsman - an independent body which could assess who is responsible when things go wrong. But that is a dream. There are civil courts which decide such matters and there is trial by media. As no-one has yet thrown any law suits about and because the sport needs quick answers, the only way forward is trial by media.

Formula 1 has taken the pain and now is the time for the truth to be told. Who did what? When and why? There is no point in those involved throwing accusations and insults at one another. What we need to know now is what happened on Sunday morning in Indianapolis and the only people who can tell us what happened were those who were involved.

So we call upon the FIA, Michelin, the teams, Tony George and Bernie Ecclestone to each give us a blow-by-blow account of what happened: what proposals were made, why they were rejected and who was responsible for that rejection? We want to know the timelines.

And when we have that information in the public domain, we can put that information in front of the public and let them judge where the blame lies. There is no reason why anyone involved cannot do as we are asking, all claim that they were in the right and so should be able to give us chapter on verse on the whole sorry business.

We do not want to hear nebulous arguments about rules, liabilities or politics, we want the facts. We want to know how it was that a group of apparently intelligent people took Formula 1 to such a ridiculous place, without the brakes being applied to this madness. We want to know who tried to stop the train wreck and who wanted it to happen.

So, gentlemen, let us hear the whole story blow-by-blow.

And we'll let the people decide.