New Michelin Tyres an Improvement, Says Michael

The new Michelin tyre is faster and more consistent than the previous, Williams's chief operations engineer Sam Michael told Atlas F1.

The FIA said today the new Michelin tyre has been approved by the governing body, stating they now believe the front tyre tread width will pass scrutiny after use as well as when new. This, after the Williams and McLaren chiefs met with FIA's Charlie Whiting yesterday in order to resolve the latest affair.

However, while McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh expressed concern that the new Michelin tyre may hamper his team's World Championship challenge, Sam Michael joined Renault's technical director Mike Gascoyne in announcing the new tyre to be an improvement.

"Yes, Mike is correct," Michael told Atlas F1. "The new Michelin front mould profile is faster and more consistent than the old profile. They are a slight improvement. We expect this to be the same at Indy and Suzuka as well."

In an exclusive interview, appearing tomorrow on the Atlas F1 Magazine, Michael also said the Williams team are looking forward to continuing the fight with Ferrari over the remainder of this season and were not demoralised by the Michelin controversy. "Morale is high," Michael said. "Michelin tyres are legal and always have been."

Michael also stated the massive accident suffered by Ralf Schumacher in testing last week at Monza, did not have a debilitating effect on the test programme.

"It did have an impact, as we lost one day of testing preparing the spare car," the Australian explained. "However, we still completed our planned test schedule. This was helped by doing another half day on Friday morning."

Williams are currently leading the Constructors' Championship by eight points ahead of rivals Ferrari, while Juan Pablo Montoya is one point behind Drivers' Championship leader Michael Schumacher.

The full interview with Sam Michael will appear in this week's Atlas F1 magazine issue, coming out tomorrow