This week's Grapevine brings you information fresh from the paddock on: Smoke and Mirrors Positive Mood at Minardi

Smoke and Mirrors

When the FIA informed Michelin that they would be changing the way tyres are scrutinised from Monza onwards, it stirred up something of a hornet's nest. And, as usual in Formula One, the whole thing originates in politics, rule interpretation and spin.

With Ferrari taking a pounding from the Italian press after the Hungarian Grand Prix, the pressure is on Maranello to turn things around quickly, and remain in contention for Championships. With Michelin currently strong enough to push Bridgestone's leading contender down to eighth place in the race, it seems likely that Ferrari are going to drop out of contention. It begged the question, what could be done for Ferrari and Bridgestone to continue to have a chance at closing the performance gap, without completely making a mockery of the concept of a fair Championship?

As it happens, Michelin themselves have provided a situation allowing just that.

Their tyres, like most, deform slightly when used; however as they start out at the maximum permitted width, deformation takes them over the limit, so they end the race a fraction too wide. As the FIA have always measured the tyres as soon as they go on to the cars, and not when they come off, this has been of little consequence, but now the fine balance of the Championships threatens to be lost, some bright spark has pointed out the issue to the powers that be.

Michelin, of course, have to react. They may not be able to produce conformant tyres for the next race - or even the race after - but they will not be able to bring anything new out either. Obviously, development effort has to go in to complying with the rules before improving performance, or their teams will be disqualified.

So, whilst the Bridgestone tyre testing currently being performed mostly by Ferrari is oriented to improving performance, the Michelin runners are losing track time evaluating the deformation of the existing tyres at different stages of their lives, and trying out new solutions. Moreover, the fiddling with the width of the tyres, even if it is only by a few millimetres, has an interesting effect on the airflow around the sidepods, marginally increasing drag and reducing cooling - at least until the front wing and barge boards are tweaked for the revised profiles. The balance of the work on revising the decision between beefing up the tyres to reduce the deformation, affecting bump handling and tyre cooling, or making the tyres slightly narrower, reducing grip (and drag) and adding understeer, is awkward. And it is definitely impacting overall performance.

All this begs an obvious question, of course: what if it had been Ferrari surpassing Williams and McLaren in the performance stakes, and Bridgestone with an advantage over Michelin, rather than the other way around? After being forced to react to this challenge, both the leading Michelin runners are again frustrated at the apparent double standards of the FIA, who did nothing to slow Ferrari or Bridgestone during the last season: they are certain that these 'changes to interpretation' should have been made in the off-season, in order to be consistent.

Positive Mood at Minardi

For a team that struggles to get a car off the back of the grid, the atmosphere at Minardi is surprisingly positive - it's almost as though they know something that the rest of the grid doesn't. Like, for example, that they are going to be making a step forward in 2004.

The way the Minardi outfit as a whole has maintained moral throughout the season is proving a real example to most of the remainder of the grid. The team does not pay top dollar for staff, so any who are any good can readily find places in other teams; however, the outfit is a hotbed of enthusiasts. The team has been at loggerheads with most of the paddock, but when it happened, Stoddart seized the bull by the horns, and very publicly resolved the issues when they happened, instilling the factory with confidence that their management really are doing something solid to ensure the future of the outfit.

That said, the teams' excellent moral has not brought them any points, or guaranteed a spectacular leap forward for next season!

Alongside Jordan, Minardi have spent most of this season struggling to ensure they have the budget to compete in the next. Whilst Jordan has been able to pull together sufficient funds to see the year out - provided they can keep the price down on their revised engine deal - Minardi's position has been uncertain beyond the last race of the year. However, it appears that they are now in a position to make it through at least the first half of next year. And they are able to thank the demise of Arrows for a chunk of their fortune.

In purchasing the old Arrows chassis, the team have been able to pick up both ideas and parts that can be used directly in their own cars. The contribution is being integrated into the chassis for next season, reducing the work required for putting the project together. This has freed up sufficient capital to guarantee the first half of the season, and there are promising deals in prospect that look like bringing in the remaining budget - which is good news for Paul Stoddart, as he has been acting as guarantor ever since he bought the company.

There are still question marks over what engine package the team plans to run with, and whether they can persuade Bridgestone to supply tyres at a reasonable price for the next season, but it appears that deals are in place. Whilst Ford is apparently happy to provide uprated engines for last year's price, there has been mention of Toyota considering a second string: they don't think Bridgestone are going to be competitive next season, but if they do bounce back, having a dependant team on that rubber would be a useful asset.

It has to be said, if there is one thing that is going to help keep moral high at Minardi, a decent engine deal for next year has to be high on the list!