Tyres a sticking point for TWG

The FIA's technical delegate Charlie Whiting presented a formal notice to the TWG on two days ago, comprised of the F1 team's technical directors, which gave them two months to produce 'satisfactory' proposals for a performance reduction or have a set of regulations imposed upon it for 2005 on 'safety grounds'.

A leading F1 technical mover told Autosport.com: "I'm confident that as far as the chassis side is concerned, we will come up with a set of regulations on which 80% of the teams are agreed. The aerodynamic methods involved are logical and I think, broadly, there is agreement.

"On the engine side, the only thing we can really do for next year is the shift to two races from one engine and I don't think that there is going to be a problem there. But tyres... they seem to change their minds every five minutes."

When Max Mosley announced his initial radical proposals to slow F1 cars and go back to basics at Imola, a one-make tyre was central to his thinking. Tyres, he said, played a disproportionate role in the performance equation.

The FIA has since shifted its position, allowing both Bridgestone and Michelin to stay in competition, but has demanded that they come up with suggestions that will properly restrain tyre performance and hence ever-falling lap times.

Michelin, it is understood, is keen to introduce a fifth groove into F1's treaded tyres, thereby further reducing the contact patch. There is ongoing discussion about the best way to achieve the FIA's objectives while reducing the vast expenditure on tyre testing.