Ferrari hopeful of solving tyre issues

Schumacher's second stint at Imola was badly affected by tyre graining - which saw him drop back into the clutches of Fernando Alonso and come under pressure for the rest of the race.

Despite a lengthy debrief after the event on Sunday, Ferrari technical chiefs still do not fully understand what caused the problems, which is why testing this week will be so crucial.

"We're at Ricard this week, where hopefully it will be warm and we can understand a little more about the tyres," explained Brawn. "Williams and Toyota didn't suffer with it and neither ran the same compound as we did. So we need to understand. Maybe we will get some more experience with them."

Brawn believes that the warmer than expected temperatures at Imola played a key factor in their tyre problems - with one explanation for their issues being that the then well rubbered-in track delivered too much grip to allow Ferrari's tyres to get up to their operating temperature.

"We saw in 2003 and 2004 that sometimes, when a track gets a lot of rubber down and a lot of grip, we don't get the tyre to start to work properly. That happens as the tyre doesn't start to wear and you see on the rubber that the tyre doesn't start to bite into the surface and it can be when it gets a bit too hot.

"Today was a lot hotter than we predicted and we were on a soft compound. You would expect we would have more wear issues, but in fact it was quite the opposite. We can't wear the tyre, it gets too hot and we lose the grip.

"The first set benefited from us having a lighter fuel load and it had an easy life at the beginning because of the Safety Car - and it was also a slightly used set. So they had already done a bit of work and the second set, we are still investigating, but we think we overheated the tyre and then couldn't get it back. That's what we think.

"It moves out of the optimum range of the tyre operating window. What's interesting is that it doesn't wear and after the race you have a tyre that hasn't worn. You sometimes get this graining phenomenon where the rubber tears and it's not true wear, it's wear because the rubber is not in the proper operating range and it's just getting sheared off. Front and rear. You can see it more clearly on the front.

"The final set didn't really work properly. If you compare the end of the third stint with the end of the first stint Michael was a second slower."

Brawn thinks it is too simplistic to suggest that Ferrari would have been better off on the harder compound.

"It's impossible to say how the harder tyre would have behaved and it's all part of the game trying to predict what the tyre is going to do on the Sunday. These are a new family of tyres, they are very good on warm-up and one of the best things we didn't suffer was warm-up after the Safety Car - it was there instantly. We also had the grip on the grid at the beginning.

"Michael was quick to begin with, realised he couldn't hold his lead (advantage) and he decided to save the tyre until he needed it and it turned out it was the most perfect thing to do. His in lap - which was critical - was quite good. The car and tyre weren't working as well in the middle, as it was in the beginning of the race."