Michelin says F1 rule change will increase costs 15%

Paris -- Groupe Michelin is calling recent changes to rules covering tyres for Formula 1 racing next year a "step backwards" and "incoherent with the...proclaimed policy to reduce costs."

Michelin estimates the changes, which will allow teams to make tyre changes during races, will increase tyre development, production and logistics costs by 15 percent. The Federation International de l´Automobile, F1 racing´s sanctioning body, made the change this week, reversing a rule change it had made in 2004 for the 2005 season requiring competitors to qualify and race on the same set of tyres.

"This decision reveals a lack of technical understanding of the product and of what a tyre really is," Michelin said in prepared statement.

To switch from a tyre designed to run for 220 miles in 2005 to a tire that can be changed every 60 miles or less in 2006 will require tyre makers to design an entirely new generation of tyres and will therefore increase costs, Michelin said.

"As many have said and written in the past few weeks," the firm said, "we can only question the meaning behind this decision, which negates all of the benefits of Michelin´s research in 2005 to design a tyre capable of running for (220 miles), allowing its partners to win 18 races throughout the year."

Michelin, therefore, said it questions the FIA´s "hidden motivations" for the 2006 F1 regulation and "illustrates...F1´s problems of incoherent decision-making and lack of transparency."

Michelin also said its partner teams sought to, in vain, to block the rules change.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)

Statement from Michelin