Michelin Give Teams Set-Up Instructions

Nick Shorrock, director of Michelin Formula One activities, told Autosport-Atlas: "In order to continue with Saturday's activities we have given the teams technical specifications to use on their car set-up on their tyre set-up.

"That will allow them to run safely, given that we wanted to ensure the safety of all the drivers because we cannot afford to do anything that puts the drivers in a difficult situation.

"We have taken all the tyres that were involved in the incidents on Friday and examined all those tyres and we have also examined all the other tyres that ran yesterday.

"Following that we have been able to undertake a certain number of examinations both here and in Clermont-Ferrand. But the problem we have right now is that we have not been able to understand the failure mode of the tyres we had yesterday.

"That is why we have issued these set-up changes. We don't think there will be a compromise in terms of performance, it is a safety issue that is most in our minds."

The problems are a blow to all but six of the cars in the field and could boost Bridgestone partners Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi into a more competitive position if the changes do prove a compromise.

Michelin is now trying to get the sport's governing body, the FIA, to allow them to use a different type of tyre, but to do so is likely to require a unanimous agreement from all the teams.

It will also be a challenge for Michelin to ship the required amount of tyres for all seven of their teams - a total of 14 cars - in time for them to arrive before Sunday's Grand Prix.

But Shorrock stated: "We are also in discussion with the FIA to bring products to the circuit by tomorrow in order to run the race and doing that is absolutely feasible and achievable."