Two different tyre approaches

According to Michelin's F1 chief, Pascal Vasselon, the two tyre manufacturers have gone for very different approaches at Shanghai. It could make the race interesting.

After qualifying, Michelin seemed serene. "The circuit has changed since yesterday, as expected. There was less grip this morning, but it is always hard to predict how things will change at a new track. However, conditions remained stable for qualifying," explains Pascal Vasselon, head of the French company's F1 programme.

"Looking ahead to the race, we are in an interesting situation. The two tyre companies seem to have taken two different approaches: Michelin has been quite conservative, while Bridgestone has been quite aggressive, even though they seemed a bit on the limit today."

Tomorrow's race has plenty of excitement in store then. "According to the way in which the track changes, one or other type of tyre will have an advantage. However, we are confident, and all of our partners have chosen the same type of tyre."

As always, though, it remains to be seen how much fuel different teams are running with. Fuel consumption is approximately 3.5 kilos per lap"The fuel effect here at Shanghai is around 4 tenths of a second for 10kg extra," concludes Pascal. "That's one of the highest figures of the season."

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