Formula 1
Williams test to focus on tyres
Williams will focus on tyre testing at Monza this week in an effort to make sure the Michelin tyres do not exceed the FIA 270 mm width regulation in time for the next Grand Prix. Michelin said its partner teams will race with the existing tyres at ...
Published: Sep 3, 2003, 4:55 AM
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Williams will focus on tyre testing at Monza this week in an effort to make sure the Michelin tyres do not exceed the FIA 270 mm width regulation in time for the next Grand Prix. Michelin said its partner teams will race with the existing tyres at Monza in two weeks as there's not enough time to build a new design. The manufacturer believes its current tyres are legal but it's possible all Michelin's teams will have to get used to a new tyre design in the future.
Sam Michael.
Photo by Nikki Reynolds.
Williams chief operations engineer Sam Michael thinks solving the problem will not be possible without some detrimental effects. "Our test programme at Monza will focus on the problem," he told Autosport. "But it is unlikely that any solution we come up with will come without a loss of performance."
"I would say that it is most likely that this situation will require a new tyre design for everybody. This is not just a problem for Williams, but every team that runs Michelin tyres. At the moment we think that we will need to run a new front tyre, but until we have done the testing we cannot say for sure."
"We are not 100 percent sure under what conditions we can make the existing tyre not exceed the new FIA limitations. We will find out really quickly on this first day of testing."
Despite this unexpected rule alteration, Williams is concentrating on its title challenge and the tyre problem is hopefully something that will be resolved. "It is like any other performance problem on the car except it is generated from a different area," said Michael. "We have set out a test programme to try and solve it.
"The most important thing in this situation is to remain focused and keep your eye on winning races because that is important for the title -- it is easy when you have one big problem for everybody to focus on that."
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