This week's Grapevine brings you information fresh from the paddock on: Midfield Movement Working the Safety Angle

Midfield Movement

It is not just Ferrari who are looking forward to seeing what damage the fracas over Michelin's tyres has caused, as Jordan, BAR and Sauber hope to take advantage over their disadvantaged middle order runners.

The revised Michelin front tyre is an interesting beast. It features a modified construction, reducing the deforming effect of wear. However, the tyre also requires some significant changes to the front suspension in order to be sure of completing the race in a fully compliant fashion. At a circuit which focuses on a low-downforce setup with good balance, and good bump control, that could leave the Michelin runners struggling to find the right set-up for the race.

This is, of course, precisely the effect that Ferrari were hoping to achieve with their complaint, but they are not the only team who stand a reasonable chance of benefiting from the situation.

None of the Bridgestone runners has seen enough of the Michelin data to really know what the prognosis is for the next race. Testing times are very misleading, as there is no way of knowing what fuel loads or ballast are being run. Needless to say, all the teams try to keep their cards close to their chests, and focus on working to set up their best race pace, rather than aiming at qualifying. However, the midfield Bridgestone teams do know that the Michelin runners have all been compelled to compromise on set-up, so their efforts have been spent on working out what the cost is going to be, and how best to capitalise on it.

General consensus holds that the new tyres are noticeably less forgiving over bumps. The new construction does not act in quite the same way over bump and rebound as the old tyres. As tyres are the biggest component in absorbing bumps in a Formula One curve, some fairly radical changes are required to the front suspension in order to ride the kerbs effectively at Monza. However, the more the suspension is set up to ride the curbs, the less effective it is for high speed corners, leaving the car skittish. Certainly not the ideal way to drive the Parabolica.

The cost of a skittish car is probably not going to be felt during qualifying: though it might increase the odds of Michelin runners making mistakes, the ultimate pace of the cars are expected to remain unchanged. Where the biggest change will be is during the race, where tyre wear impacts grip, making it tough to stay on the limit. Imperfect balance should increase wear, and decrease grip, meaning the drivers can carry less speed through the faster corners - leaving them potentially vulnerable to being overtaken.

Needless to say, most of the speculation depends on Bridgestone's latest tyre living up to expectations. Whilst Ferrari may be happy with the running they had with the Japanese outfit's newest offerings, the other teams have seen less of the development rubber than they would have liked. Ferrari's dominance on the development direction has left the remaining runners chasing set-up changes of their own in testing, in order to keep the tyres working properly with their cars. Though all agreed that Bridgestone is making clear headway.

Working the Safety Angle

The introduction of the HANS device has not marked the end of attempts to improve safety in Formula One for either the drivers or the spectators: there are a lot of independent projects in action, investigating different safety features. Some have been tested in earnest, others are being turned into commercial products, and still more have been dismissed out of hand as disastrous, or impractical.

Coming straight out of the Saab workshops, pop-up headrests have been considered as an alternative to the HANS device, which is used to reduce both whiplash and hyper-extension of the neck. The investigation was prompted by the problems reported by drivers with short necks, who find HANS restrictive and awkward to fit comfortably. A workable alternative might make it in to the sport, and the pop-up headrest is a leading contender, if the problems can be ironed out: making the device work completely reliably on impact, but not when riding kerbs, is vital. Critically, it is also inadequate against hyper-extension, with existing solutions requiring a deforming seat to even begin addressing the problem.

New helmet designs are reducing neck stresses, and new types of foam are being used to absorb knocks in the cockpit ever more effectively. Strangely, there was a suggestion that racing cars should be filled with gel - the idea being that it would completely cushion a body from impact - though practical considerations have stopped that from ever being seriously considered.

Dealing with the cause and aftermath of incidents is expected to see some changes, as part of the fallout from the Brazilian Grand Prix where cars coming off the track ran the risk of running into the heavy machinery that was recovering earlier retirees. Revised guidelines for recovering cars could see more safety cars as the safety of the next driver coming through the corner is emphasised and considered.

There are a number of new barriers being offered for trial too, as the commercial benefits of being the recommended barrier supplier are huge. The differing variations on a theme are based around deforming barriers that would be able to replace tyre walls as a means of absorbing the energy of an accident. Typical stumbling blocks include the problems with the deformations being permanent - meaning that the section would need to be replaced whilst a safety car was running - or the barriers simply being incapable of absorbing sufficient energy.

The "next big thing" on the horizon seems likely to be a revision to catchment fencing requirements, which should be increased in height and strength for new circuits. Whilst loose tyres are a far less common occurrence than they used to be, as the loss of Barrichello's rear left in Hungary demonstrated, when they do come adrift, they are carrying huge amounts of energy, and represent a serious danger to spectators and marshals.