Brawn Angry at Tyre Rule Change Claims

The Maranello outfit's Bridgestone tyre supplier have struggled this year to get on top of the single-race tyre regulation - and there are suggestions that they would be the chief gainers should tyre changes be allowed back in next season.

But Brawn is unhappy with claims that the rule is designed to favour his team - and claims that some of their rivals complained last year about the single race tyre rule possibly benefiting Ferrari.

"I want to remind whoever says these regulations would end up giving a hand to Bridgestone, that in the various meetings we had last year more than one of our rivals claimed that to lengthen the life of the tyres would have played in the hands of our tyre supplier, as it was considered more consistent in performance compared to its competitor," he was quoted as saying in Gazzetta dello Sport.

"It's clear to me that, in the light of how this season went, they were wrong. And besides, in the last six years the only aim in introducing new regulations was to fight our superiority, so I wouldn't be shocked if things would again get changed in the name of the spectacle."

Beyond a shift in the relative competitiveness of Michelin and Bridgestone, Brawn believes that the return of tyre changes will bring benefits for the show as well as improving safety.

"This year we all raced with the same strategy except for McLaren who, thanks to a very fast car, can take on board a larger amount of fuel," he added. "To go back to tyre changes would let us use our imagination and create more lively races, even though we might not see again races like we did at Magny-Cours in 2004, when we came up with four pit stops."

And making a clear reference to the problems that marred this year's United States Grand Prix, where Michelin failed to bring a tyre that was good enough to last a race distance, Brawn said: "It would avoid more Indy-like cases.

"Maybe, with the possibility to change tyres, all teams would have raced. I'm saying this because last year something like that happened to us in a couple of occasions, and in the end it was enough for us to adapt the strategies in order to finish the races. On top of that it would be possible to limit testing, because now we spend full days just doing simulations to verify the safety and the durability of the tyres."

The return of tyre changes to Grand Prix racing will be voted on at a Formula One Commission meeting on October 24, with Brawn believing that it will get the necessary support.

"Let's say that at least 16 or 17 votes would have to be in favour of this solution," he said. "Among the teams only McLaren is definitely against it, as you would expect."