S12 E1: Monza 2003 and the Michelin tyre controversy
Bring Back V10s - Classic F1 stories
The Race Media Ltd
4.9 • 764 Ratings
🗓️ 3 July 2025
⏱️ 89 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Bring Back V10s Season 12 is here! We're kicking off the new season with one of our most requested topics: the 2003 Michelin tyre controversy that erupted ahead of that year's Italian Grand Prix.
Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, and returning special guest Ted Kravitz dive into the tyre story in great detail, exploring how Ferrari and Bridgestone brought it to the FIA's attention, how the Michelin teams reacted, and how the fallout from the rule tweak spilled over into a spicy weekend in the Monza paddock.
We'll also explain how Ross Brawn nearly got himself into legal trouble with Michelin, and Ted reveals who Brawn took aim at in a memorable press conference exchange where he told a member of the media to stop laughing.
Other topics covered include Jacques Villeneuve's shaky future at BAR, teams raising concerns about F1's team orders ban, plus Marc Gene's last-minute stand-in heroics for Williams - and how his presence briefly confused the ITV F1 commentators AND the Ferrari pitwall during a crucial pitstop phase of the race.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic |
| 0:02.0 | With three races to go in the 2003 F1 season, we had an epic championship fight in full swing, with Michael Schumacher, Juan |
| 0:18.8 | Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimmy Reikinen covered by just two points at the top of the standings. |
| 0:23.1 | Schumacher was clinging on to the lead after a barren run of races by his standards, |
| 0:27.6 | having not won for five races while Williams and McLaren hunted down Ferrari. |
| 0:32.7 | But ahead of Monza, that all seems set to change, |
| 0:35.9 | when Ferrari, with an assist from Bridgestone, managed to get a |
| 0:39.4 | rule clarification that robbed Ferrari's Michelin-Shodd rivals of a crucial edge. Welcome to |
| 0:45.5 | Season 12 of Bring Back V-Tens and we are kicking things off with one of our most requested races. It's the 2003 |
| 0:53.3 | Grand Prix, but really this episode is all about |
| 0:56.7 | the 2003 Michelin Tire controversy, and that's where we're going to spend most of our time. |
| 1:02.7 | So joining me, Glenn Freeman, to go through this pivotal moment in a classic F1 season. |
| 1:08.0 | In great detail, we have Ed Straw, and I'm delighted to welcome back to the show, Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz. |
| 1:15.8 | Ted, great to have you back with us. I remember when we did Hungary 2003 and you joined us, you said either during or after the recording that you'd love to come back for the controversy that followed that weekend in a run up to Monza. So here you are. So you can tell us, when you think |
| 1:33.0 | back to Monza 2003, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Matchsticks, or a matchstick, |
| 1:39.3 | actually, singular. I wasn't expecting that. Good. I like to surprise you, and it was the, it was the width of a matchstick. |
| 1:47.8 | And that was what we were all being told, um, that this argument about the tread width was all about. |
| 1:54.7 | Mostly from Michelin and the Michelin teams were saying, look, this is the width of a matchstick everyone's complaining about. |
| 2:00.3 | Why is this such a big thing? I mean, it turned out to be a big thing. And of course, would, look, this is the width of a matchstick, everyone's complaining about. Why is this such a big thing? |
| 2:02.2 | It turned out to be a big thing. |
| 2:04.1 | And, of course, would lead to Michael regaining his world championship, maybe against the run of form. |
| 2:10.1 | But it was the reaction from Hungary. |
... |
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