Michelin: Many of their expectations confirmed

Renault star Jarno Trulli was the fastest Michelin F1 driver in the new-look Formula One test session that opened the 2004 world championship season. The Italian was third fastest in the afternoon, when track conditions were at their quickest, behind the Ferraris of defending world champion Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Jenson Button made a bright start for Michelin s newest partner B A R-Honda. He set fourth fastest time before a technical problem forced him to pull off the track.

* Michelin tyres were fitted to 15 of the 24 cars that took part in today's test and its drivers occupied eight of the top 10 positions.
* Local hero Mark Webber (Jaguar/Michelin) was ninth fastest in front of his home crowd.
* Ricardo Zonta (Toyota/Michelin) was quickest of the four test-and-reserve drivers who took part, just ahead of Anthony Davidson (B A R-Honda/Michelin).

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director:

"Today s test confirmed many of our expectations in the wake of an extensive winter test programme. It was interesting to note, however, that today s quickest Michelin driver Jarno Trulli completed a long run at the same time as Rubens Barrichello this afternoon and there was barely a tenth to choose between them. I think that s a barometer of an interesting weekend ahead. We have evaluated a number of different tyre compounds with our six partner teams, all of whom are in the ballpark, and we must now get down to some serious analysis to work out which will be most suitable for Sunday s race."