Tyre war punctures monopoly

JACQUES VILLENEUVE's victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix may have signalled that it is business as usual at the front of the field for the Williams team, but the performance of Olivier Panis's Prost Ligier in finishing third, only 17.1 seconds behind the winner, strongly suggests that another Formula One monopoly is about to be broken.

Panis was running on Bridgestone rubber in what was only the Japanese company's second outing as a full time F1 tyre supplier and it will clearly only be a matter of time before Goodyear - the sitting tenant of the grand prix tyre supply business - will be under serious pressure.

The French driver was delighted with the performance of his tyres, but paid tribute to the new team owner Alain Prost, the four times world champion who concluded that a single pit stop strategy was the best way of producing the best result on Sunday.

"Alain is a great champion," said Panis. "He has lots of experience at every circuit and with many cars. I settled the car set up with my engineer, and when we were discussing strategy it was Alain who pushed for one stop. I pushed for it, too, because the tyre wear figures were fantastic, both in qualifying and again in the warm up on race morning."

Damon Hill, whose Arrows Yamaha ran as high as fourth on Sunday before making its single pit stop, echoed Panis's sentiments. "The Bridgestone, performance is very encouraging, he said. "At this stage they are taking things quite conservatively, I suspect, because they naturally do not want to be seen to have any obvious problems.

"On Sunday the tyres were almost hard enough to go a full distance on a single set. But when we get back to Europe I think they "might be a little more ambitious. I am very optimistic."

Striking a balance between grip and durability is the key to making a successful F1 racing tyre. Goodyear know more about this complex technology than any other company, but the signs are that Bridgestone may close the gap quicker than many expect to spark the first serious F1 tyre war since Michelin unseated Goodyear as champions in 1984.

Already Michael Schumacher has joked that he would like to try his Ferrari on a set of Bridgestones. But it is a joke laced with serious undertones. When Bridgestone arrived on the scene, most leading F1 teams played safe and stuck with Goodyear. With big money retainers and huge technical support involved, they thought they could not take the risk. But now it seems only a matter of time before one of the established front runners makes the switch.

"Goodyear have indicated that they might take quite an aggressive stance if any top team tried to break its contract and change tyre companies," said the Williams technical director Patrick Head. "There is no doubt that Bridgestone are technically very competent and will do an increasingly good job."

There is not the slightest suggestion that Williams are thinking of cutting loose their long established Goodyear ties. As F1's most consistent frontrunners, they are benefiting from the stability of their current tyre supply relationship. Yet one could seriously imagine Ferrari, Benetton or McLaren giving careful thought to a switch to Bridgestone might offer, the final piece in the technical jigsaw which would enable them to unseat Williams from their pre eminent position.

Of course, for all Bridgestone's technical excellence, to sustain their position in the F1 frontline they will need as many top drivers as possible on their books. On Saturday night in Sao Paulo's Hotel Transamerica, Prost was tucked away having a quiet dinner with Jacques Villeneuve's manager Craig Pollock.

It probably meant nothing, but Prost's team will have works Peugeot engines in 1998 and the French former champion has made it clear that he has not become an F1 team owner simply to make up the numbers.