French tyre supplier about Shanghai

The 19-race Formula One campaign, the longest in world championship history, draws to a close this weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit. Only seven days after racing at Suzuka, one of F1's oldest active tracks, Michelin and its seven partner teams are turning their attention to one of the newest.

China staged its first F1 race on September 26 last year, a major landmark in the sport's history, and the challenging, 5,451 kilometre track was well received, as were its standard setting facilities.

This year's Chinese GP marks the end of a season in which Michelin and its partners have been extraordinarily dominant in F1 and a wide range of other motorsport disciplines. In addition to securing both F1 world titles. Michelin has enjoyed significant success in Moto GP, the World Rally Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours. Whatever happens on Sunday, Michelin has underlined its ability to provide competition tyres fit for any climatic conditions and, so far this year, has already secured victories on each of the five continents that feature on the F1 calendar.

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin Motorsport Director “It promises to be a thrilling seasonal finale in Shanghai, where two of our partner teams– McLaren Mercedes and Renault – will be fighting to decide the outcome of this year’s world championship for constructors. Our goal, as always, will be to provide our partners with tyres that allow them to perform at their full potential over a full race distance. Last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix provided a perfect illustration of our ability to do exactly that. The Shanghai circuit is relatively new, of course, but last year’s inaugural race gave us plenty of data and we know what to expect. It is a tough track for drivers and one or two corners place a very high load on tyres, but from a technical perspective it doesn’t cause us too many headaches."