Michelin sets afternoon pace

Anthony Davidson (Honda Racing F1 Team) was the quickest Michelin runner on the opening day of free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, sixth round of this year'sFormula One world championship. Michelin drivers set the quickest three laps of the afternoon. Davidson's 1m 16.533s put him fourth on aggregate, ahead of fellow Michelin drivers Kubica (BMW Sauber, 5th), Doornbos (Red Bull Racing, 6th), Alonso (Renault, 7th), Klien (Red Bull, 8th), Fisichella (Renault, 9th) and Button (Honda, 10th).

Michelin's day :

Nick Shorrock, Michelin Formula One director "The track has evolved rapidly throughout the day, although we haven't quite yet reached the level of performance that we have seen during some test sessions here. We have four different tyre compounds this weekend and the primes and options are very distinct - much more so than they have been at some recent events.

"So far we seem to be very strong in terms of performance and consistency, but we need to take a good, long look at this afternoon's long-run data before we make any
definitive suggestions about tyre choice for the race.

"We also have to keep a wary eye on the weather, because showers are forecast this evening and that could put us back to square one tomorrow."