Michelin could supply tyres for testing

The French tyre manufacturer ended their latest spell in the sport with their second successive titles for Fernando Alonso and Renault, but have decided to withdraw from F1 because of the move towards a single tyre supplier.

And although their involvement officially ended at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the company said that if any of their current teams request tyres for winter running they will be happy to supply them.

Most teams have contracts with Michelin that last until the end of the year.

It is understood that McLaren had recently requested tyres for a run in November, but cancelled that order when Bridgestone agreed to supply tyres for an extra test.

Michelin's F1 director Nick Shorrock said: "We have had some requests from some teams to know whether or not there were products available, because I don't think all the tyre contracts (with Bridgestone) are in place.

"Clearly the teams are involved in wanting to get their 2007 cars underway, making some 2006//7 comparisons and we have said that should they wish to do that, we have some tyres available. The biggest request we had at one point was from McLaren, but now they are going to do it differently."

Shorrock admits, however, that teams will need to move fast to get a request in because the F1 personnel needed to run the tyres at tests will soon to be moved to other departments in the company.

"The door is open on it but it is getting smaller as the hours go by," he explained. "If we were to do it, we would do it from the stock of tyres that we have available.

"But over and above that it is the people we would need to have available to go and supervise the use of competitive tyres."