Williams: Michelin will be fine

Williams finished first and third last time out at Monza with Juan Pablo Montoya taking his maiden win. The long straights of the Italian circuit broken by tight chicanes suited the team's package of Michelin rubber and its powerful BMW V10.

While Indianapolis has a long straight, which includes Turn 1 of the famous 2.5-mile oval, there is also a tight infield section. The fact that Michelin has no previous experience of the track could present problems, but Montoya's team mate Ralf Schumacher, who retired from second place in America last year, is not worried.

"We should be quite well prepared for Indianapolis," said Schumacher. "And even though Michelin have not been there with Formula 1 before I am sure they will have done their homework."

Michelin have traditionally gone well in higher temperatures and according to the company's Formula 1 project manager Pascal Vasselon, Indianpolis is a new challenge. The combination of high-speed and low-speed corners means that a new rear tyre has been developed especially for this race.

"Technically the banked section shouldn't present any great difficulty," he said. "But we must find the right compromise to make sure we can cope with that part of the track while managing tyre loads, speed and durability. This is not a typical track. There are some very slow corners as well as the ultra-fast banking, so we will have a new type of rear tyre to deal with such demands."

Reliability has also been a problem for the Williams team so far this season with Montoya and Schumacher finishing less than half their races. BMW motorsport director Gehard Berger believes finishing the race in the US is a priority.

"We are looking forward to the race and are putting the highest priority on technical reliability," said Berger. "If we achieve this, we have a good chance of scoring some more points this season. For Juan Pablo the venue, where he won the Indy 500 in 2000, has a special meaning for him and the victory in Monza will have made him even stronger."