Tyres will spice up races, says Michael

[davewilson]

Formula One's new tyre rules this year will spice up races and throw up mixed strategies, claims Williams technical director Sam Michael.

Although there have been some doubts that the regulations that require drivers to run both types of tyre compound in races will do anything to increase excitement, Michael is convinced that strategy choices will be unpredictable now.

"I don't think everyone is going to do exactly the same thing," said Michael. "I don't know where that has come from, because there will definitely be different philosophies out there.

"You could do short first stints on soft tyres, or you could do them at the end. If you have a very green track then you will almost certainly want to start on a hard tyre because the soft tyre will grain, but by the end of the race the soft tyre will be good.

"You might start off thinking you are going to run two sets of hard and then a soft, but if the track comes in really well then you might decide you will run the soft in the middle.

"So it will be varied to be honest, and it will change from team to team."

Michael has also said he supports the idea of teams being forced to publish their opening tyre choice for the race. The FIA are considering the idea to try to help the public understand more about what is going on in the events.

"I have got no problem with that, the more info for the fans the better," explained Michael.

"We will know anyway, because we have spotters in the pit lane, so if it is all published then we can save another position. It will save us a lot of work."


The Stig