Friday March 8th, 2002

Michelin will introduce a new generation of tyre in next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix in a bid to catch up with rivals Bridgestone.

The French company claimed second to eighth positions at the Australian Grand Prix, but the tyres remained too sensitive to temperature to remain consistent, according to Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya.

Michelin had originally planned to introduce an asymmetric tyre, which caused dissatisfaction from their rivals because there was conjecture over its legality. That plan has now been scrapped but Renault executive director of engineering Pat Symonds is confident that the new rubber will help the Michelin-shod team move forward.

"Michelin are bringing on some new tyres that we have found to be quite an improvement in testing," Symonds said. "They are the first in a new generation of tyres, with a new construction and a new compound, and we are hoping it will move us forward relative to the Bridgestone runners. You will see quite a lot more of those in the coming weeks.

"It is really a new generation of tyres and although for Malaysia it is quite conservative, we have tested and race-approved a further step for Brazil."

Published at 16:02:12 GMT