Renault Threaten Not to Race at Indy

With Michelin still baffled about the causes of several failures during Friday practice, including Ralf Schumacher's high-speed crash, the French tyre manufacturer is pushing hard to be allowed to bring in a new specification of tyre for Sunday's race.

And Renault boss Flavio Briatore has made it clear that if permission for that move is not granted then he will withdraw his team's cars from the Indianapolis event.

"We fully support Michelin in this situation, and in the efforts they are making to best resolve it," he said in a statement issued by the Renault team.

"They are flying out different tyres to use in tomorrow's race - the same that were used in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.

"The authorisation to use them has not yet been granted, but if that were not given, we would not compete in tomorrow's race. The safety of our drivers remains our number one priority."

The Michelin runners were only able to take part in Saturday morning's free practice session after making necessary set-up changes to their cars to ensure that their tyres were safe.

Permission to run the new tyres would need to be given by both the FIA and rival Bridgestone teams, because the sport's current rules dictate that tyres have to be chosen before the race weekend.