Montoya Calls for Michelin Development

BMW-Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya has urged his team's tyre suppliers Michelin to make developments to their compounds over the winter in a bid to overhaul Bridgestone-shod Ferrari.

Montoya is concerned at the work he has had to put in this season to 'scrub' the tyres, effectively wearing the rubber surface down slightly, during Saturday's practice and qualifying to get them ready for the race. He wants Michelin to improve their tyre to help him improve on his debut season with even more wins and points in 2002.

"I think we're going to have to work really hard with the tyres over the winter to make sure we will be able to run new tyres," said Montoya after finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix. "It seems that if we don't actually scrub the tyres, we're not competitive. I spent all day on Saturday scrubbing tyres and that really cost us."

Montoya and his Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher were the only Michelin-shod finishers in the top-six in Japan with four of the six non-finishers also all on Michelins.