By Phil Huff
June 18 2005

Michelin tyred teams staged a bizarre practice session at Indianapolis this morning, refusing to take to the fast banked turn that makes up the final corner of the circuit. Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher crashed there yesterday, forcing him out of this weekend's Grand Prix, with the cause suspected as being a failure of the Michelin tyre. A large proportion of the drivers also suffered an unusually high number of spins throughout the days sessions.

With reports that a number of tyres, including Ralf Schumacher's, have suffered some 'cracking' to the sidewall, Michelin have taken steps to ensure safety on the circuit.

"In order to continue with Saturday's activities we have given the teams technical specifications to use on their car set-up on their tyre set-up," Michelin's Formula One director told Autosport. "That will allow them to run safely, given that we wanted to ensure the safety of all the drivers because we cannot afford to do anything that puts the drivers in a difficult situation."

"We have taken all the tyres that were involved in the incidents on Friday and examined all those tyres and we have also examined all the other tyres that ran yesterday. Following that we have been able to undertake a certain number of examinations both here and in Clermont-Ferrand. But the problem we have right now is that we have not been able to understand the failure mode of the tyres we had yesterday."

It is that failure to pin down a reason for the problems that has caused various teams to err on the side of safety, with Peter Sauber making it clear that they will only test around the infield section of the track, taking a drive through the pit lane rather than facing the final corner.

Only two Michelin runners dared put in a lap, with Montoya going fastest, over a second clear of Michael Schumacher. Barrichello leads the other Michelin driver, Coulthard, ahead of Monteiro, Karthikeyan, Friesacher and Albers.

Michelin have now declared that the teams should adjust their cars for this event, with camber angles and tyre pressures being the focus point. However, the French manufacturer are also looking at the possibility of flying new tyres out to the race for Sunday morning.

These tyres, untested at the Indianapolis circuit, technically would not be allowed, as you cannot change compounds after Saturday's qualifying session. However, should all the teams agree, including the Bridgestone shod teams of Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi, the FIA could allow them special dispensation.