British GP down to tyres

By Andrew Hooper
July 4 2002

	British GP down to tyres
	For Juan Pablo Montoya the up-coming British Grand Prix will see him again try to produce a good result for the BMW WilliamsF1 team, but in the back of his mind must be the failures that have occurred in the previous Grand Prix. Not only failures with the engine but also with his Michelin tyres. But Juan Pablo he does not have any frustrations with the situation, for him it is just one of those things. Juan Pablo commented on whether he felt frustrated by the past weeks by saying: "Well, not really. I can’t really do anything about it. I have been a bit unlucky on the engine side in the first two and in the last one I was fighting with David and my tyres were completely gone and I just spun. That’s it." As for his prospects for this weekends race will it come down to tyres again, as it had in Germany. Juan Pablo added: "I think every race is mainly the tyres. Sometimes you get a really quick qualifying tyre and then you struggle in the race. In Canada it was quite good because it was quick in qualifying but we had a good race there as well." As for the continuation of his fight with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher Juan Pablo was to pay him the compliment of recognising how good he is, but also made it clear that he felt Michael could still be beaten. Juan Pablo said: "Rubens beat him in the last race. I think the guy is really good but he has got a really good car as well. I think the big issue we have got at the moment is the difference in the tyres. As you say, the Bridgestone's can do the same lap time after 16 laps as in the first lap." As for the situation with tyres Juan Pablo felt that the race this weekend would be difficult due to colder conditions but he still felt that Michelin would eventually get it right. Q: Have you got a feeling something is coming? Juan Pablo concluded: "Michelin are working really hard to do better tyres and they have, and it is just a matter of time to get everything right. I think it is going to be a bit tough this weekend for us because of the cold conditions, but the next few races coming are going to be good for us."