A tale of two tyres

Although an easing of the morning rain ahead of first qualifying in Brazil meant that a driver petition to cancel the session was no longer relevant, it does not take an Einstein to foresee a potential repeat of the situation.

Rather than produce pure wet tyres, both Bridgestone and Michelin produce a 'wet' which is actually much closer to the old intermediate, because it offers advantages in anything other than heavy rain. The hope, presumably, is that if faced with such conditions in a race, the FIA will deploy a Safety Car.

In practice and qualifying, however, that obviously does not apply. Talking about the best way to solve the problem, Schumacher suggested a return to two rain tyres and said that the Ferrari management, at least, would support such a move.

The tyre companies also have every right to feel slightly nervous about the current situation, given that in the event of an accident, the performance of the tyre is likely to be a central issue, with resulting negative publicity.

Schumacher said: "I guess that after the experience, whoever voted to have only one tyre will maybe see the complication of it and maybe has a different opinion now."

Schumacher himself had the worst of the rain en route to fifth fastest time in first qualifying and actually spun on his 'out' lap. He denied that he had been merely trying to find the limit.

"No, actually, it was just aquaplaning and then off you go. I think there were two issues. First of all the water, probably enough to make me spin, plus on top of this, the commercial break that we have during the session meant that there was no car running right in front of me to help clear a dry line."