Imagine if this happened at the 2007 Monaco GP? :devil:
As far as I'm concerned, Michelin are to blame for starting the whole situation. I heard the track surface was different (didn't know how how though). Now if I knew that, don't you think a multi billion dollar company would know that too? That's why they are being frowned upon.
The FIA are to blame as well for not sorting the situation out. I can see why they didn't want to change the track layout - it would be a disadvantage to the Bridgestone runners, which would be unfair. I can see them wanting to stop Michelin changing tyres as it would affect the integrity of the FIA. The Michelin teams offered to run with a chicane, but not race for points - a non championship race. I'm not sure what the implications would be after and whether the teams (e.g. McLaren) would kick up a fuss if it came to that the extra points Ferrari picked up as a result of this race put them at an advantage at season close. It could cause bad feeling and disrepute.
I reckon that the FIA should have let the teams run the Barcelona batch of tyres - they would have had some data to help with setups, the show would still go on, everyone happy. They would have no setup data if they went for the chicane, would they?
All in all it has, IMO wrecked the credibility of F1 in the US. With NASCAR and IRL and ChampCars, you could ask the question why would they need F1? As Mark Blundell said, 'there's a NASCAR race on now.........and they still have 43 runners'.