Panasonic Toyota Racing was forced to withdraw from the US Grand Prix today, in company with all of the other Michelin-supplied teams, as a result of tyre-related issues.

It was a particularly tough outcome for the team after Jarno Trulli took pole position, the team’s first ever, in Saturday’s qualifying session. But, in the interests of responsibility and safety, there was no other appropriate course of action.

The race, therefore, went ahead with just the six Bridgestone-tyred cars and resulted in the first victory of the season for Michael Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, ahead of his team mate Rubens Barrichello. Tiago Monteiro finished third for Jordan Grand Prix, ahead of team mate Narain Karthikeyan. The Minardis of Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher were fifth and sixth.

Panasonic Toyota Racing suffered accidents to both Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta after tyre problems in Friday free practice, with Ralf unable to take any further part in the meeting after a medical examination on Saturday morning. He is confident that he will be back in the cockpit in time for the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours on July 3.

With Zonta substituting for Schumacher in the race, the decision was taken to return to the pit lane after the formation lap.

The decision was taken on the clear advice of Michelin when the tyre company could not guarantee that such incidents would not reoccur in race conditions with the track configuration as it was. The Michelin-supplied teams had offered to put on a race with a chicane installed prior to Turn 13, the banked section of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which was the root of the problem. This proposal was rejected by the FIA, however.

Team principal Tsutomo Tomita said: “First we would like to apologise to all the fans and sponsors watching, both here and around the world. We are sorry to have to take this decision, particularly in the light of Jarno Trulli’s pole position, but the safety of our drivers always has to come first. After a detailed explanation of the tyre problems encountered this weekend, we could not legitimately send our drivers out for a race distance.”

The implications of Indianapolis for the championship is that 18 constructors championship points for Ferrari has put the Scuderia into joint second place with West McLaren Mercedes on 63 points, while Panasonic Toyota Racing and the BMW Williams F1 team has 47. In the drivers’ championship defending champion Michael Schumacher moves into third place on 34 points, with Rubens Barrichello fourth, on 29, which relegates Trulli to fifth place, on 27 points.