This week's Grapevine brings you information fresh from the paddock on: On Tyres and Championships Silly Season: The Prequel

On Tyres and Championships

Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, news of Michelin's interests in bringing along a tyre that reinterpreted the rules for grooves was high on the media agenda. Bridgestone and the FIA complained they were illegal, and the tyres stayed at home. No news there.

It's also not news that the Australian event played into Bridgestone's hands: colder than expected weather, and limited dry running time to scrub in the Michelin tyres, was not exactly what the doctor ordered; even if they had not been compelled to run on second choice tyres, Michelin would have struggled to beat Ferrari. So, what's new in Malaysia? The manufacturer is saying they have a whole new tyre for the event - so why didn't they use it in Australia? Well, as it turns out, there is a bit of a story here, after all, and it shows they really were not prepared for Australia at all.

The decision not to take tyres with the new shape grooves to Australia came very late in the day: not only it was the right rubber for the job, but it had been apparent from very early on that it was the clear favourite. This led to ongoing research for improvements for the rest of the season being based on the uneven groove concept. There continued to be work on developing the "standard groove" tyres, but it was split with the alternative concept, and so seeing half the normal resources. Accordingly, when the time came to ship the tyres to Australia, Michelin had to decide between new tyres which were half way through a test programme, or the older tyres, that had been properly tried and tested. Given the anticipated drop out rate for the race, the conservative option was the logical choice.

Since then, a lot of laps have gone into completing Michelin's test programme for their Malaysia specification rubber. It maintains the manufacturer's preference for a high ambient track temperature, and there is a scrub in requirement to avoid the initial drop off. That said, these new tyres were half a second quicker over the lap at Silverstone (in sub optimal operating temperatures) compared to their previous specification.

That is impressive progress, but don't stop reading there. No one will comment on whether that half second per lap is sustained over a race distance, or was just the improvement at an optimal part of the wear cycle. Nor is there any comment on the end of race wear of the tyres that offer this speed, and Michelin have certainly been prepared to scrub down their grooves. Accordingly, even if the pace really is there, the Michelin teams could find themselves protested out of the race at its conclusion, as Bridgestone seem to be intent on ensuring they adhere to the letter of the groove rules for the foreseeable future.

Silly Season: The Prequel

The Silly Season proper is yet to begin, but with news of the Phoenix team rising from Prost's ashes, we have some Silly Season news and views to catch up on.

A surprising rumour that was doing the rounds before the season even started, postulating that Ralf Schumacher's big money deal with Williams could be short lived. It holds that the German star is controlling an option to change seats with Jenson Button at Renault for 2003, after Frank Williams and Patrick Head's reputed disappointment with his performance at the tail end of 2001. Considering that the top men at Williams have continued to sing Button's praises in his absence (and Montoya's during his end of season form), that there is no love lost between Montoya and Schumacher, and the financial commitment of paying up Schumacher's salary, there is plenty of room for speculation on his Williams future.

Renault is a logical choice for the destination team: not only do they have Button to conveniently exchange, but if they continue to improve as they did last year, then they should be front runners in no time. Ferrari and McLaren are not options: Michael will not race his brother, and McLaren have filled their seats for next year. And no other team on the grid has the financial and performance opportunities to be a viable move.

Fans of Jos Verstappen will be glad to hear their man is destined to race in 2003: news of "letters of intent" and "options to drive" have slid in, and out, of the rumour mill, connecting him to Renault (to replace Button, if he is too slow this year), Jordan (no reason given), Sauber (as test driver, then racing if Massa is too careless). Also starring were Phoenix (who need someone to show up Gaston Mazzacane) and - wait for it - Arrows (because Frentzen doesn't cut the mustard / Bernoldi's millions are not enough to counter his lack of pace). It seems that as long as "the Boss" wants to race, his fans will fill the Grapevine with potential seats.

Lastly, anticipating something that has been playing on the minds of the other teams on the grid, a rumour voiced by an Australian journalist, disappointed at not seeing Ferrari's F2002 at the Australian Grand Prix, has been seen getting a second airing on the run up to Malaysia. The contention is, Ferrari's "new" car has never been intended to race before San Marino at the earliest. It's based on the idea that the version of the F2001 which raced in Japan last year, was really the team's original F2002 car. Having proven it competitive, dominating the Japanese Grand Prix last year, the paddock believed this to be Ferrari's 2002 challenger: the F2001 moniker is something of a misnomer, as this chassis is inherently 15 kg lighter than its predecessor, and sponsors heavy revisions to the packaging of its components, even compared to the car which appeared in Indianapolis.

Anyway, according to this theory, all the off-season hype about the F2002, and the "will they/won't they" approach to racing it, has been intended to hide the fact the new car is not only incomplete - it was never intended to be ready for the first race of the season. Having developed the F2001 "B" by the end of last year, Ferrari believed themselves to have a challenger with which to start the new season, and could take the time to completely redesign the car through the off-season. Their "late" launch was, in fact, very early in the development cycle of what is, after all, a completely new car, with the huge advantage of being designed four to six months after the rest of the grid started on their cars for 2002.

It's an interesting idea: after all, how many other teams can begin to consider a design program which aims to produce a brand new car every six months?