| Michelin is the most prolific tyre supplier in the Formula One world championship. Last season, the Clermont-Ferrand company worked with B•A•R-Honda, Renault, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, McLaren-Mercedes, Jaguar (now known as Red Bull Racing, following a change of ownership) and Toyota. This year, Switzerland-based Sauber-Petronas has also placed its faith in Michelin, which will henceforth supply 70 per cent of the cars on the grand prix grid.
Is this likely to present any logistical headaches? Not according to Michelin Motorsport director Pierre Dupasquier.
Michelin’s F1 supply commitments have increased from five teams in 2003 to seven this season, following last season’s recruitment of B•A•R and the recent arrival of Sauber. How will you cope?
It won’t cause any undue problems. We have in place a development system that works well and have always been able to produce competitive tyres that suit a wide range of cars. During each of the past two seasons, we have scored race victories with three different partner teams. Furthermore, the new regulations mean we will be bringing fewer tyres per team, which also helps..
How did the Sauber deal come about?
In the first instance, it wasn’t clear what might happen to Jaguar once Ford sold the team, so there was a chance we might lose one of our existing partners. It didn’t come to that, however, and we are more than happy to work with new owner Red Bull Racing, which has encouragingly high ambitions for the future. While those negotiations were being finalized, however, it made sense to take on another team and we were happy to listen to Peter Sauber’s overtures, because he has frequently expressed an interest in switching to Michelin.
What can you learn in the early stages of a new relationship such as this?
.It is always interesting to gauge the drivers initial reactions. Felipe Massa graduated to F1 in 2002 and hadn’t previously driven on Michelins, so he wasn’t particularly happy about Sauber’s decision when he initially heard the news. But then he tested our tyres for the first time. Almost as soon as he got out of the car, he telephoned Peter Sauber to compliment him on having made the right choice.
What can you offer your seven partners?
I always believe we can offer a performance advantage, but first you have to sort out the basics suspension geometry and aerodynamics. For instance, some cars were consistently well balanced, a few struggled for traction from time to time and others were plagued by rear-end instability. Then you have to factor in engine characteristics, some are powerful but peaky, others are more flexible and the best offer both power and driveability. Then there’s the small matter of fine-tuning the traction control system. And all the time you have to make sure the driver feels confident when pushing at the limit.
In conjunction with our partners, we constantly look very closely at every detail of this complex equation in order to develop solutions that meet their exacting demands. Once a car is stable, and the driver is in his comfort zone, then different tyre options come into the equation. Partner teams are allowed to evaluate two different types of tyre during the Friday test sessions that precede a race, we call them .primes. (type A) and .options. (type B). Generally speaking, there is seldom much to choose between them in terms of outright performance. One might be fractionally slower than the other over one or two laps, but will offer greater long-term durability. Teams have to weigh up all the various factors, such as the weather, or the state of the track and how it might evolve, before deciding which is best suited to a given grand prix. More often than not, primes and options, will both be used on a Sunday afternoon, sometimes on cars from within the same team. That reflects drivers, individual set-up preferences, and Michelin’s ability to cater for diversity.
What are your key objectives for the 2005 F1 season?
They remain the same as always, to prove that Michelin offers its partner teams a competitive edge with a view to winning the world titles. That remains a difficult challenge, however, because we already know which of our rival’s cars is likely to be best placed in almost every race, while we have seven strong partners. Most of them will be challenging for victory and all are realistic top-six contenders. It is inevitable that they will take points off each other during the course of a 19-race season. We could be the dominant manufacturer in terms of victories yet still be pipped to the championship. That’s the frustrating reality.
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