Friday test teams lose tyre advantage

The four teams signed up for Friday testing - Renault, Jaguar, Jordan and Minardi - had all previously hinted that they would be allowed to evaluate as many different types of tyres as they wanted during the session. But the new agreement between F1's two tyre suppliers means that they will now only be allowed to run the same two compounds of tyre that are available to the other teams.

The deal between the tyre companies was reached after Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin's competitions boss, expressed concern to the teams and the sport's governing body, the FIA, that the firm could be in breach of its 'equal treatment' contracts if it supplied extra sets of tyres to Friday test teams.

The Sauber team has admitted that it is giving serious consideration to participating in the Friday morning test sessions, ahead of the final deadline for applications tomorrow (Friday). A team spokesman told AUTOSPORT: "At the moment the team is considering its options, but as of now we are still with the Suzuka Agreement [which gives unlimited testing]. We are aware of the deadline if we wish to change our minds."

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