Michelin: Fingers crossed for Japan

After having had to build a tyre to suit the banked Turn 13 at Indianapolis, Michelin now heads to Japan to take on rival Bridgestone in its own back yard. But despite having manufactured tyres for other forms of motorsport at Suzuka, the Clermont Ferrand-based company is heading to the final round of the season blind.

When asked if Michelin had any data to refer to before going to Japan, Dupasquier said: "Not really. We'll put our head in our hands and try to summarise what we've learned during the season, and try to deal with it. We know by experience that it's a track where it can be not easy to understand different results. In motorcycles in particular sometimes we were absolutely out of the picture."

Michelin rubber has improved in wet conditions as the year has gone on and as such Dupasquier is hoping the wet weather that often blights the Japanese GP strikes again this weekend to help level the playing field.

"We'd like that," enthused Dupasquier when asked about the prospect of a wet race. "In Suzuka, that's the point. You saw in Spa that we were doing pretty well [in the wet], so we'll see.

For full Pierre Duspasquier Q&A, click here.