Michelin Against Tyre Rule Changes

The FIA sent the teams an email last weekend with rule change proposals to the 2006 Formula One regulations, ahead of a meeting of the F1 Commission on October 24th. One proposal includes allowing tyre changes during the races again next season, after they were banned this year as cars had to qualify and race on a single set of tyres.

Michelin dealt with the regulation change better than Bridgestone this season, while the Japanese manufacturer appeared better in the previous years, when tyres had shorter lifespan.

But Dupasquier said his company did not have an advantage this season and was adamant that there should be no further modifications to the rules for 2006.

"Moving to a single tyre was good for the sport," Dupasquier told Autosport-Atlas. "This saved the teams money, there was less testing, and it made the racing more interesting.

"We did not have an advantage this year - we simply did our job. Bridgestone did not do the same thing, so now there is talk about changing the rules.

"But we talked to our friends from Bridgestone and they said they don't need this new rule, so I don't know why the FIA need to introduce tyre changes again."

Dupasquier believes that if the FIA are keen to change rules they then should actually go in the opposite direction and ban pit stops altogether.

"If the rules change, fine, we will design the tyre for the new rules," he said. "It is not a problem for us, but we are not happy.

"Why change at all? We had excellent racing this year, especially last weekend in Japan. Why ruin that?

"In fact, if they want to change anything, they should go even further and cancel pitstops. Refuelling is stupid and it goes against the spirit of Formula One.

"The races should be between drivers and cars on track - a competition between the best drivers and the best technology. Pitstops only ruin that."