F1 governing body hits back at Michelin

Formula One's governing body poured scorn on Michelin yesterday after the French tyre company criticised plans to move to a single supplier in 2008.

Michelin chairman Edouard Michelin warned at a news conference at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday that the company could quit Formula One at the end of next year and questioned the International Automobile Federation's (FIA) integrity and conduct.

"Mr Michelin should be aware that the (single tyre supplier) proposal did not come from the FIA but from all the competing teams, including all of Mr Michelin's teams," said the FIA in response.

"There are powerful arguments for a single tyre in Formula One. If Mr Michelin is not aware of these simple facts, he shows an almost comical lack of knowledge of modern Formula One."

Michelin and the FIA have been at loggerheads since the US Grand Prix fiasco in June, which saw just six cars start the race after Michelin-equipped teams withdrew for tyre safety reasons.