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The opening practice for
the Japanese Grand Prix certainly must have been encouraging for Michelin
and its partner teams. McLaren drivers Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard
would set the pace, with Michelin cars filling seven of the top ten
places.
For the Michelin supplied BMW WilliamsF1 team their driver Juan Pablo
Montoya returns to a circuit that he admits he enjoys driving on been
second here in 2001. He would finish fourth fastest, although his day was
marred when he crashed heavily with five minutes of the session remaining.
His FW24 chassis was quite badly damaged but he was unhurt.
Team-mate Ralf Schumacher was fifth. Ralf said: "I had a good free
practice session where we tried all that was scheduled and we have also
made some progress with regards to the tyres choice. I am quite happy with
the balance of my car."
Apart from the last minutes when Juan Pablo Montoya went off the track and
crashed into the barriers, it was quite a positive free practice session
for the BMW WillliamsF1 Team for the last race of the season.
" All in all we are happy
with today's performance. A normal Friday programme working on race
set-up. The tyres choice will be difficult as Michelin have brought two
good compounds here so we have to analyse the data later on and see which
tyre is better." said Sam Michael, WilliamsF1 Chief Operations Engineer.
The other Michelin runners in the top ten were Jaguar's Eddie Irvine in
seventh, Jaguar team-mate Pedro de la Rosa eighth, and Renault's Jarno
Trulli ninth.
After the practice Pascal Vasselon, Michelin Formula One project manager,
responded to several questions.
Michelin partner West McLaren Mercedes set the fastest two times today and
there were seven Michelin cars in the top 10. What were your impressions
of the opening free practice session?
"It's easy to be positive when things go as well as they have done today.
Even though Friday sessions do not always foretell what might happen for
the rest of the weekend, we seem to be in good shape and got through lots
of useful work with both the dry-weather compounds we have brought to this
race. We did lots of comparison tests and completed a number of long runs
with differing fuel loads. This has allowed teams to take a good look at
tyre performance and durability and will help give them a clear idea
of which compound will most suit them."
What differences are there between your primary (A) and option (B) tyres?
"They share the same method of construction but the compounds are
different. They appear to be quite close in terms of performance and
endurance."
One of the two compounds Michelin is using this weekend is a new
development. Has its performance fulfilled your expectations?
"Yes, it has. The results correspond with what we saw during recent tests
in Barcelona. Suzuka is very abrasive, which is partly due to its layout,
partly to the nature of the surface, but we had no problems with our wear
rates on a track that evolved considerably during the day. It offered much
more grip this afternoon than it did this morning."
Is it clear whether teams are likely to opt for primary or option tyres in
tomorrow's qualifying session? "Given that both tyres worked very well, I
think teams will be split. When tyres are similar in terms of pace and
durability it tends to be the driver who makes the final decision,
according to his personal preference for handling characteristics, chassis
balance and tyre stability." |
