Michael: Williams Assessing their Tyre Options

Williams are still assessing their options, to determine how to adopt to the FIA's new front tyre guidelines, the team's chief operations engineer Sam Michael said today.

"It's still a bit early to judge precisely what the implication of the new rule interpretation will be," Michael told the Guardian.

"We're going to spend the next couple of days testing on the existing tyres to assess whether or not there is a way of adjusting the chassis set-up to see whether we can get away with it on the existing rubber, or what we can do to handle the situation.

"At the moment Michelin are telling us that they probably won't be able to get a full quota of new tyres available for the Monza race. It would be a pretty tall order because it involves making a total of 400 new front tyres in order to completely service their five teams."

Williams are currently leading the Constructors' Championship by eight points, ahead of Bridgestone-shod Ferrari. Moreover, Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya is trailing Championship leader Michael Schumacher by a single point.