Michelin Boss in Race Warning
Michelin's motorsport boss Pierre Dupasquier has warned that the Belgian Grand Prix may not be able to go ahead if conditions do not improve over the rest of the weekend
A torrential downpour on Friday afternoon left the track too wet for drivers to complete any laps - with only Vitantonio Liuzzi, Robert Doornbos and Fernando Alonso actually venturing out onto the track. Liuzzi ended up crashing into the barrier on his first lap out of the pits.
Dupasquier believes that if similar conditions were experienced on Sunday then the race would not be able to go ahead - even if teams are allowed to use their extreme weather tyres.
"We are expecting the same thing for the rest of the weekend," he said. "It is the FIA's decision whether they race or not, but the drivers do not want to go out with that kind of weather.
"The tyres could not handle this amount of water. They wanted a monsoon tyre in the past, but it doesn't make sense."
Dupasquier believes if it does rain on Sunday then it does not automatically favour Ferrari and their Bridgestone tyres.
Michelin have traditionally been behind rivals Bridgestone in wet weather conditions - although such a status quo may be different judging by the current dry-weather form of both manufacturers.
"If it eases off and we can race, then we have no idea how we will go," he added. "In the past, we had Bridgestone on Ferrari and it was a certain result in the dry and in the wet. Now it is more complicated.
"We have improved, when we compare back-to-back with the tyres we had in Brazil last year, what we have done in development but how much we have done compared to Bridgestone we have no idea."
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