Britain: Michelin ready, whatever the weather

By Michelin Sport
June 7 2006

Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix, is one of the most historically significant venues on the calendar. It was here on May 13 1950 that the very first round of the Formula One world championship took place... and here on July 16 1977 that Michelin started its maiden grand prix.

A former wartime airfield, Silverstone opened its doors to motorsport in 1948 and has been in use ever since. Its profile might have changed over the years, but its challenging, high-speed character remains intact.

This year's race marks the 57th British GP - and the 40th to take place at Silverstone (Brands Hatch has staged the event 12 times, Aintree five).

Carlos Reutemann scored Michelin's first British GP win, at Brands Hatch in 1978. It has since won the race on another five occasions, with John Watson, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Juan Pablo Montoya.

This weekend, the company is targeting its sixth win of the 2006 season and the 99th in its illustrious F1 world championship history.

Nick Shorrock
Formula One Director
Michelin

"Silverstone's demanding sweeps place considerable loads on both cars and tyres. The track requires a medium aero set-up and a Formula One chassis needs to be very reactive, to cope with high-speed directional changes, yet also stable enough to handle the slower segments of the track. The latter part of the lap demands good traction, too.

"The track surface is relatively porous and, therefore, abrasive on tyres, so we tend to favour some of the hardest compounds we use all season. The cars reach very high speeds and are subjected to significant vertical and lateral loads, so a well balanced tyre is essential.

"To prepare tyres for this race, we have done a lot of work with our partners during recent test sessions at both Silverstone and Barcelona. Several new products have been tested in order to find the best compromise between first-lap pace and consistency over a full race stint.

"As ever at Silverstone, there are always doubts about the weather and we might well have the opportunity to demonstrate the performance of our latest wet-weather compounds."