By Denna Bowman

BP have suffered a crushing blow in their attempts to stop the oil leaking from a damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil company was forced to admit that its latest operation, the “Junk Shot’, which involved firing shredded tyres, golf balls and strips of rope at high pressure into the well in an attempt to block the leak, had failed.

US President Barack Obama said that he was heartbroken at the setback.

The spill started over a month ago when the Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and exploded, killing 11 workers. Over forty days on and BP have still to stop the leak. One option that is known to work is to drill relief wells, however the oil company admitted that this will take two months.

BP has spent more than £600m trying to stem the estimated 5,000 barrels of oil per day flowing out from the wellhead.

Previous failed attempts have included a coffer dam, a tube to suck the oil up to the surface and top kill.

BP will next try to cap the well using an underwater robot that will try to cut the leaking pipe and place a cap over it.

Meanwhile, President Obama’s increasing anger and frustration at the failure to control the problem is starting to affect other oil companies operating offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

President Obama extended a deep-water drilling ban in the region by six months, with work on a total of 33 drilling rigs set to be halted until the oil firms concerned demonstrate that a similar disaster could not happen again.

Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton who clinched his first win of the season in a thrilling and dramatic Turkish Grand Prix - with team mate Jenson Button finishing in second place.

Bridgestone tyres were equally delighted with the performance of their tyres on the challenging Istanbul circuit, where the rubber has to get to grips with one of the toughest corners in motorsport.

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone, said: “Today we saw a real Turkish delight in Istanbul.

“The pace at the front was exceptionally close on both compounds of Bridgestone Potenza and this provided exciting racing.

“Our tyres performed well on one of the toughest corners in motorsport, despite the forces they are put under by this season’s ever improving aerodynamics and heavier cars.”

Hiroshi Yasukawa, director of motorsport for Bridgestone, added: “This was a very exciting race so congratulations to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and Red Bull for such good performance.

“The Istanbul Park circuit enables fantastic racing, with difficult corners and interesting gradient. We have been able to prove the strong performance of our tyres in front of a world audience and I think anyone who watched the race will agree about the excitement we saw.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

Just as it looked like Pirelli was the clear winner in the race to become the new tyres supplier for Formula One, Michelin has put its foot down and appears to have pulled level.

It appears that 11th hour talks have taken place with the French tyres manufacturer and the Formula One teams and the word is that the race will continue into next week.

The trouble is that the teams are keen to get on with designing their 2011 cars and it’s vital they start gathering information about the new tyres.

But the negotiations, which seem to have narrowed down to a choice between Pirelli and Michelin, still remained inconclusive after the Turkish Grand Prix.

Ross Brawn, the Mercedes team boss, said: “There was a lot of general discussion, it’s going to take a little while longer.”

While Adam Parr, Williams chief executive, “We are still in the process of making the final decision, I’m afraid.

“It’s taking a bit longer than we’d like but it’s going very well and we’ve got proposals from both of them,” he said.

“Today was nothing new, just running through the ideas. Just to make sure we full understand everything. I think it will take a few more days but we are getting close.”

Formula One teams will face a big challenge when it comes to tyres strategy at the Turkish Grand Prix today, according to Bridgestone.

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone tyres, said after yesterdays practice and qualifying session: “The changing temperatures made finding the best set-up even more difficult for the teams at this venue where this is already a challenge due to the track surface evolution over the weekend.

“The difficult to judge grip levels meant that many people found the limit as they danced on the edge of adhesion today. Mark Webber proved the best at this when it mattered most, so congratulations to him for his third pole in a row.”

Hamashima warned that track surface evolution will continue to be a factor today. He said: “Judging when which tyre compound will deliver the best performance during the course of the race will be tough.

“The difference between the soft and the hard compound is difficult to tell here as they are very close, and the track conditions and temperatures have been changing.

“This is a big challenge for teams and drivers. Our microscopic analysis of yesterday’s tyres did not highlight anything untoward, however teams and Bridgestone will remain vigilant as we face Turn Eight for the 58 laps of tomorrow’s race.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Alex Kapadia

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner believes that Pirelli will be a positive addition to Formula One if they are confirmed as the next official tyres supplier to the sport later this weekend.

It is widely anticipated that a deal with the Italian tyres manufacturer is expected to be confirmed at some point during this weekends Turkish Grand Prix.

Horner said: “I think Pirelli will be really positive for F1.

“They are a quality company, they are a good brand to have in F1 and I think it is good news for F1. It is also really a good quantity of tyres they are looking at supplying and we are looking forward to working with them.

“Like with Bridgestone, we expect everyone to have parity in terms of supply and equipment – and that is the big advantage of a standard supplier. Doing that enables teams such as Red Bull to be competitive with teams like Ferrari, McLarens and Mercedes.

“To be honest, I think it is just a matter of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. Pirelli has made a very good offer, it is down to Bernie to do his bit now and get on with it.”

The Red Bull team principal also said that he would support the notion that teams should have at least one test day on the new rubber before the end of the year.

“It would be great to have a tyre test,” he said. “It would be useful for the design of next year’s car and winter preparations.”

Lewis Hamilton has qualified in second place for tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix - despite shredding his tyres in the final practice session.

The McLaren driver and his team mate Jenson Button, who starts from fourth spot, were both on soft tyres for the third and final part of qualifying.

But it was Red Bull’s Mark Webber who stormed to his third consecutive pole position around the Istanbul Park circuit this afternoon.

It was a great result for Hamilton considering that morning he skidded off the track and shredded his McLaren’s tyres in a final practice session.

He had to be pushed out of the gravel at the tricky turn eight and nursed his car back to the pits with flat rear tyres and the front ones almost worn through with the tread flapping around.

The former world champion, who has yet to win a race this season, said following his team’s best qualifying performance of the season so far: “I’m happy with the balance of the car and we have a good opportunity tomorrow.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Alex Kapadia

Reigning F1 world champion Jenson Button swept to the top of the time sheets on the first day of practice for the Turkish Grand Prix using Bridgestone’s soft tyres.

While the McLaren driver was quickest in the afternoon, his team mate Lewis Hamilton used the hard tyres to best effect to go fastest during the morning session.

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone, said: “Today we met a very dirty and dusty track, which is usual for the first day’s running at Istanbul Park as this circuit is not used as frequently as others we visit.

“This meant that finding sufficient grip was difficult and we saw quite a lot of graining on the right front and right rear tyres because of this.”

He added: “This was the first time we have experienced Turn Eight with the latest specification cars and on heavy fuel loads, so it was a very interesting day for us. Now we will analyse the tyres very closely, including cutting them up and examining them under the microscope.”

Hamashima also said tyre management will be a vital for Sunday’s race. He said: “The key here is the amount of track surface evolution which occurs before Sunday and then during the course of the race.

“As we saw today, the track temperature was very hot, so careful tyre management from car set-up and the drivers will be very important this weekend.”

BP has stepped up its efforts to block the oil spilling from its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico by carrying out a ‘junk shot’.

The engineers fired debris, including shredded tyres, golf balls and pieces of rope, into the broken valves on the sea bed in a bid to

The ‘junk shot’, which was carried out hours ahead of a visit to the area by President Barack Obama, is the latest attempt to stop the leak after earlier efforts to plug the well proved ineffective.

Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, told ABC TV’s Good Morning America programme that the top kill was going “pretty well according to plan”, but the results might not be known for another 48 hours.

He admitted that the oil spill, which has become the worst in the country’s history – exceeding the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989 – was “clearly an environmental catastrophe”.

The company began its “top kill” operation at 1pm local time on Wednesday, pumping heavy drilling fluid, known as “mud” into the blow-out preventer (BOP), the stack of valves on the ocean floor that was intended to prevent escapes of oil and gas.

The hope was that the mud would flow into the hole and push back the oil and gas pouring from the reservoir 13,000 feet below the sea bed.

BP executives likened the attempt to “arm wrestling” between two opposing forces.

However, the procedure seemed to have been ineffective, and was suspended for much of Thursday, after large volumes of mud escaped from the broken blow-out preventer.

Some oil industry engineers compared the operation to trying to stop a flowing tap using another tap flowing the other way: the most likely outcome being a spray in all directions.

The junkshot uses material such as golf balls, shredded tyres and pieces of rope, which were fired into the BOP in an attempt to clog it up and stop the mud escaping, so more of it will flow down the well.

Mr Hayward has come under increasing pressure in the US. On Thursday Barack Obama, who is due to visit the Gulf site later on Friday, told a rare televised press conference that BP was now operating under the administration’s orders.

“I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure this thing is shut down,” the president told reporters. “Make no mistake: BP is operating at our direction. Every decision and action they take must be approved by us in advance,” he said.

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Goodyear have been given a glowing endorsement by a leading car magazine after its new EfficientGrip tyres helped boost fuel economy as part of a long-term experiment.

Autocar reported fuel economy savings of “nearly 2 per cent” after it switched the original equipment tyres on its Citroen C3 Picasso – currently on a long-term test – to the new Goodyear EfficientGrip.

James Bailey, corporate communications manager for Goodyear, said: “When we launched EfficientGrip, our own testing department proved that the tyre was able to offer 15 per cent better rolling resistance, whilst still delivering the wet braking and wet handling performance that Goodyear are renowned for.

“This was backed up by independent tests from TUeV in Germany, but it is great that Autocar were also able to prove a fuel efficiency improvement in real world driving – not just on the test track.”

During the test period, Autocar reported that the Citroen’s average fuel consumption improved from 42.8mpg to 43.5mpg after the switch to Goodyear EfficientGrip.

The Goodyear EfficientGrip is the company’s first tyre to feature its new “FuelSaving Technology”, which comprises: a special light-weight tyre structure, a patented “CoolCushion Layer”, advanced compound materials and innovative manufacturing techniques.

According to Goodyear, these combined elements reduce the amount of energy required to make the tyre roll, which reduces the car’s fuel consumption and hence its CO2 emissions.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

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