Michelin Boss: it Could Have Been Better

Michelin boss Pierre Dupasquier was happy with the performance of the French manufacturer's partner teams in today's qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, but claimed it could have been better if not for driving errors.

"As usual, we won't know the true story behind today's qualifying times until we see how many laps drivers complete during their first stints in the race," said Dupasquier. "It has been a very satisfying day for Michelin, however, and I am confident we are in good shape for the race.

"Things might have looked even stronger if several of our customary front-runners, such as Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and David Coulthard, hadn't had problems today. Such things are unfortunate - but that's the nature of this business."

Alonso, Webber and Coulthard made mistakes on their flying laps and failed to finish within the top ten ahead of tomorrow's race. Dupasquier, however, was confident that all of them will be able to move up the field at the start of the event.

"Our partner teams have excellent launch-control systems - and since the beginning of the year we have seen that Michelin tyres give our drivers added bite off the line. I'm looking forward to the start," he said.

McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest of the Michelin runners, posting the second quickest time ahead of the Michelin-shod Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya.