Williams Confident of No Tyre Issues

Following extensive testing at their Grove factory and at Monza this week, the team believe that the four tyre failures their drivers suffered in the race were caused by a set of unique conditions of mechanical set-up, bodywork configuration and tyre deflections caused by the high-speed Turn Eight at Istanbul.

This resulted in bodywork rubbing on the right rear tyre and caused the failures suffered by Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld.

Although such tyre problems have not been encountered before this season in cars with the same bodywork configuration as that used in Turkey, the team have still made modifications since the Istanbul event to ensure there is no repeat.

Williams technical director Sam Michael said: "To address the tyre incidents that we experienced in Istanbul, we have worked through all the possible variables, such as pressure and camber, with Michelin.

"In the Williams R&D labs at Grove we also performed some loaded tyre tests to check what type of deflections the tyres would have seen during the lap. Finally, at the test in Monza last week, we went through various trims of the bodywork to ensure that there is no possibility for the tyre to touch anything on the car."