Hungary Preview Quotes: Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier, motorsport director: "Last year's Hungarian Grand Prix was a spectacular success for Michelin â€" but you can never take anything for granted in Formula One and we have worked flat out to make sure we are in even better shape this season. The Budapest track presents a number of interesting challenges. Although it is a permanent facility, it is used less frequently than many grand prix venues. This and the dusty local landscape dictate that it is inevitably very slippery to begin with, although it evolves fairly dramatically as the weekend goes on. Even when some rubber has been laid down, however, tyres are still subjected to significant loads because the only straight is relatively short and cars are constantly turning in track temperatures verging on 50 degrees. Whatever the conditions, though, I believe our engineers' endeavours will give Michelin's partners an edge in one of the most demanding European races."

Pascal Vasselon, F1 programme manager: "Budapest is spiritually close to Monaco in terms of average lap speeds â€" but that's where any similarity ends. While we are able to use our softest compounds of the season in Monte Carlo, the Hungarian Grand Prix is a very tough event for tyres. It used to be incredibly difficult to strike the right balance. Overtaking was almost impossible, so you needed a soft, effective qualifying tyre, but at the same time it had to provide consistent performance during a race stint. “The emphasis changed in 2003, however, when the circuit was revised to create more passing opportunities â€" and we saw the positive benefits of that during last season's corresponding event. This has allowed us to adopt tyre compounds better suited to racing conditions. “This weekend we will offer our partner teams three dry-weather options from the medium sector of our range â€" and one has never previously been used during a grand prix. It was designed specifically with Budapest in mind and we finalised its specification last month, during a test session at Jerez."