Michelin: Monaco not a turning point

"I think we can say that the tyre we produced especially for Monaco was very effective," Dupasquier said. "These tyres were very new. We only tested them for the first time last week and they had not run in racing conditions before. The compound is quite soft, so the wear rate was quite high and it also proved to be susceptible to cuts if it picked up debris. There was quite a lot of that around today because of several accidents. Basically Ralf Schumacher's tyre was cut and a part of the tread became detached, but that didn't pose any safety hazard."

As far as the immediate future is concerned, however, Dupasquier added: "This tyre was designed specifically for Monaco but we will need something entirely different for the next race in Montreal - and something different again for the one after that at Nurburgring. We still haven't finalised our choice for Canada. That circuit isn't terribly abrasive but it places a strain on tyres because of the fierce braking, frequent hard acceleration and high cornering loads. It's a difficult race for tyre manufacturers and the Monaco result will have no bearing on what happens there."

In fact, the Bridgestone-shod Ferraris set comfortably the fastest race laps but were stymied by their below par qualifying performances. "We have learned this year that we have to produce better tyres for Saturday next year," said technical manager Hisao Sugnuma.