This week's Grapevine brings you information fresh from the paddock on: Tyre War Heating Up Toyota Banking on Canada

Tyre War Heating Up

Going to Canada 3-4 down in the tyre war, Michelin are taking an aggressive approach to the race, in an attempt to capitalise on what they hope is still a Bridgestone weakness.

The characteristics of this circuit are fairly well established. It is basically a high-speed track, with heavy braking for slow corners. The high speeds induce high temperatures in the tyres, promoting wear. In combination with a hot track surface - a sunny weekend is expected - controlling tyre temperatures is key to managing performance drop-off.

Making the most of hot conditions has been a Michelin trait since their return to Formula One, and the company has two new constructions that move their game forward again. To date, the Michelin solution has required their teams to go through a fairly long drop-off in performance, as the surface of new tyres are transformed by the heat treatment. The newest batch of tyres is expected to bring that period down to three to five laps, depending how sympathetically the drivers work with them.

The part that Michelin is particularly proud of, though, is that these constructions permit the company to soften the rubber used in tyres intended for higher speed circuits - they improve the efficiency of the heat flow away from the surface and into the underlying construction. This is important, as tyres that get too hot grain almost immediately and wear out very fast.

Pursuing the limit of performance this aggressively is risky. If Michelin have got the equation wrong, then their teams will be faced with tyres that wear out too fast, forcing them to make more stops in the race - adding the pain of the new tyre drop-off each time to boot. But they believe it should be worth it, as these tyres should form the baseline for the tyres that will go to France and the USA.

Bridgestone, on the other hand, are looking to strategy as the way forward. They have been working closely with Ferrari, and are expected to come up with a challenging approach for the race. They have made no secret of their intention to run soft rubber in Canada, anticipating that it is faster to run the softer tyres, but make extra stops. It also backs up the philosophy of the season, namely reliability, as cars that are running more fuel are placed under greater stresses. Heavier to accelerate, they work the engine harder; heavier to slow down, they wear the brakes more, and heavier to corner, they work the suspension more than a lighter car. So a car with less fuel should be both quicker, and more reliable.

The advantage, for Bridgestone, is that they spend their time working with a narrower range of compounds, using the extra time to understand how they work with the different constructions. Their teams can then have a good idea of their race strategy, based on a solid model of how their tyres will be performing, before they reach the circuit, reducing the time needed to establish tyre baselines, so more time can be put in to improving the balance of the car for the events.

Ironically, whilst each approach has its merits, the only potential loser in Canada is Bridgestone: the new Ferrari has a reputation as the best car on the grid, despite results to date, so when it loses, the weak link is generally perceived to be the Bridgestone tyres. Should the Ferrari win, it is the package, rather than the tyres, that will gain the credit!

Toyota Banking on Canada

Having struggled to look good against the competition so far this season, Toyota see this trip to Canada as their best chance to demonstrate the car has moved forwards substantially since last year.

In 2002, the team struggled at Canada with a car that just didn't have the right baseline set-up to work competitively around the circuit. By the time they had worked out where to start, half the weekend was lost, and they played catch-up in qualifying. However, by the time it came to race, things looked fairly positive, and Mika Salo demonstrated a good turn of pace, until mechanical issues caused pitstops, then retirement.

Fortunately, as the year was intended to be a learning experience, the team were intent on doing just that, and they identified the areas that needed work before coming back this season.

From the data collected last season, the new car should at least arrive with a halfway decent baseline to work from - which is vital, given the reduced running time available to practice under the new rules. The team will be able to get straight into tyre analysis and tuning the balance of the car (which has tended to be awkward this year), rather than establishing the correct gear ratios, or completely revising the suspension.

After tyres, the biggest factor for lap times is horsepower. When the car was working last year, the engine proved effective for driving past back and midfield opponents: but there's always room for improvement, so they are rolling out the latest incarnation of the RVX-03 power-plant at the weekend. There's been little mention of this new engine, except that it was always intended for this race, and it lives up to expectations for "a solid step forward." It's generally assumed that means they're getting a handful more revs out at the top end, and probably improved the traction control to boot. Toyota believe this incarnation of the engine should again see their top power to be roughly comparable with the big three.

Less impressive, the biggest weakness from last year was in the aerodynamics. There is more to a low downforce configuration than simply taking all the wing off: beyond a certain point, there's no real drag benefit, so top speeds are not improved, but braking distances continue to grow, and of course, cornering speeds drop even further. Getting the balance right in 2002 was a costly exercise, in terms of time, because all of the lower downforce options carried a big drag penalty, compared to their competition. This season, however, things are different: the new low downforce set-up, in what's expected to be the optimal configuration, will take nearly 20% off the drag compared to last year. Despite this step, Toyota believe they still lag behind the other midfield teams aerodynamically.

Fortunately, with points available down to eighth place, in a notoriously high attrition race, it is entirely possible to score well. Certainly, given this car's notorious trouble with bumps, and the need to ride curbs effectively at the remaining power-oriented circuits, this is the best opportunity they expect to see for a double points finish all year.