Japan Preview Quotes: Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier (Michelin motorsport director): "The season is ending with a spectacular flourish, at a series of circuits drivers really enjoy. They include Spa, Monza, Interlagos, Shanghai... and Suzuka, which demands great finesse yet is also one of the most demanding tracks on the calendar. It poses a real headache for aerodynamicists, who have to work out a set-up that offers the best compromise for high- and low-speed corners plus some long straights. One of Suzuka's key features is a succession of sweeping corners, where any loss of rhythm can be very costly in terms of lap time

Oct 1, 2005, 1:59 AM

"From a tyre perspective, Suzuka has one unique - and significant - characteristic. It is the only circuit on the calendar with a figure-of-eight layout, which provides an equal balance of left- and right-hand corners. That creates an even load across the tread and makes the circuit less critical than you might imagine in terms of tyre wear. The important thing is to focus on transverse loads at high speeds rather that straight-line traction.

"There is one other thing to bear in mind: the track tends to evolve significantly during the course of the weekend, which helps to ease the load on tyres by Sunday afternoon. Having prepared for Suzuka and considered its high-speed nature and relatively abrasive surface, we have selected compounds from the medium-hard sector of our range."