Michelin conducts extensive testing programme

It's not only the BMW Sauber F1 Team which is working flat-out for the forthcoming season. The team's tyre partner, Michelin, is also working hard to be in perfect shape when the season kicks of in Bahrain. Michelin's Formula One Director, Nick Shorrock, talks about the state of affairs.

To be able to supply its partner teams for pre-season testing, Michelin has produced about 16.000 tyres, with some 2.000 of them being used at each of the major tests. "At present we are testing about five or six compounds and four of five casings at every test," reveals Nick Shorrock. "Our first job has been to develop tyres that provide consistent speed, durability and balance on a 2006-spec chassis. We are no in the process of tailoring the rubber to specific tracks."

There are just a few more weeks to go to the 2006 season kick-off, the Bahrain Grand Prix. During the tests conducted at Valencia, Barcelona and Jerez de la Frontera, the BMW Sauber F1 Team and Michelin jointly gathered loads of valuable data in order to be able to make the right tyre choice for the first races of the coming season. "The warm weather in Southern Spain gave us a better baseline for forthcoming races such as Bahrain and Malaysia," explains Shorrock, "Although our experience enables us to extrapolate information very accurately even when test in cold conditions."