Michelin’s Pierre Dupasquier was thrilled with his firm’s performance at Monaco on the weekend but has stressed that it was not a turning point in the season for the company.
The French tyres, for the first time this year were the dominant product throughout the weekend, with the fastest time in all practice sessions, qualifying, and then in the race with David Coulthard taking victory and Michelin runners in third and fourth.
Engineers had carried out extensive research in the development of new tyres for Monaco having learned good lessons from last year when Michelin made its return to the Principality for the first time since 1984.
‘This has been a good weekend for us and David did a good job in very difficult circumstances, because this is a tough track and it is always difficult to beat Michael Schumacher,’ Dupasquier said. ‘But he did it. What’s more, Ralf Schumacher came third for Williams-BMW, Jarno Trulli scored a strong points finish for Renault and Juan Pablo Montoya was running second until he had an engine problem.
‘I think we can say that the tyre we produced especially for Monaco was very effective.’
But Dupasquier, realising the specific nature of Monaco tends to produce one-off results, was not about to predict the floodgates opening for Michelin. He said there was much work to do in preparation for other races including the next round in Canada. Interestingly it was there last year that Michelin took a convincing win in the hands of Ralf Schumacher.
‘We designed a tyre specifically for Monaco and it proved to be very effective, but we will need something entirely different for the next race in Montreal, and something different again for the one after that at the Nürburgring,’ Dupasquier explained cautiously.
‘We still haven’t finalised out choice for Canada. That circuit isn’t terribly abrasive but it places a strain on tyres because of the fierce braking, frequent hard acceleration and high cornering loads. It’s a difficult race for tyre manufacturers and this weekend’s result will have no bearing on what happens there.’
A consistent flow of finishes for Michelin means it is ahead of Bridgestone in the tyre war points chase, holding 96 points compared to the Japanese firm’s 86.
