By Jamie Makin
July 23 2004

Team SAUBER PETRONAS have made no secret of the fact that they are disappointed in the recent performance of their Bridgestone tyres. "Qualifying, though, where driving one fast lap is crucial, continues to be our main problem," Technical Director Willy Rampf recently admitted. "In this respect, the teams of the other tyre manufacturer have an advantage."

The team's contract with the Japanese supplier runs out at the end of the season and SAUBER have approached French rivals, Michelin to discuss a possible deal for 2005. In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Pierre Dupasquier (Director of Michelin Motorsport) confirmed that "there have been contacts" between the two parties.

Michelin currently supplies six of the ten teams on the grid, thus satisfying the requirement to supply up to 60% of the teams. They are therefore under no obligation to offer SAUBER a deal. However, it is thought that Toyota are considering a switch to Bridgestone next season, creating an opening for SAUBER should they desire it.

When rival team BAR-Honda switched to Michelin this season, they reported the French tyres gained them a whole second per lap. Such an increase in performance would move SAUBER up near the front of the grid and put them on pace with Renault and BAR-Honda. However, the SAUBER C23 was designed to be "very similar" to the Ferrari, for whom the Bridgestone tyres are developed. It is not a given that SAUBER would realize the same performance gain as BAR-Honda. Of course there is also the chance that next year's C24 will share less in common with its Ferrari cousin.

The other factor complicating matters is the fact that SAUBER and Ferrari are known to share tyre testing data and are suspected of collaborating on tyre selection on grand prix weekends as well. Michelin will be wary to supply SAUBER if they suspect the data will end up in the hands of rivals Ferrari and Bridgestone.

One other possibility remains, which is SAUBER could be using the threat to switch to Michelin as a negotiating ploy to get a better deal out of Bridgestone. SAUBER used a similar tactic last season to negotiate a lower price and additional support for their PETRONAS-badged Ferrari engines by threatening to switch to Mercedes engines. Bridgestone focuses all of their development work on Ferrari and other teams have to make do with whatever tyre results from that. SAUBER could be looking for Bridgestone to design more to their specific needs. "Bridgestone know our requirements, and I´m confident that we´ll be seeing progress," said Rampf, perhaps hinting that SAUBER is negotiating with Bridgestone as well.

---