Michelin Pleased with Tyre Performance

Michelin boss Pierre Dupasquier was pleased with the performance on their partner teams at Sunday's German Grand Prix, a race that proved to be very hard on tyres due to the high track temperatures.

The Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher finished in second and third places respectively, while Scot David Coulthard was fifth in the Michelin-shod McLaren.

None of them, however, were able to beat the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher, who scored his ninth win of the season, but despite that, Dupasquier was delighted with the consistency shown by their tyres during the race.

"There was no scope for error in these conditions," said Dupasquier. "Michelin partners who ran our softer, option tyre were very marginal in terms of tyre wear and even those on our harder primary compound had to be a little bit careful. But our target was to produce tyres that would do a particular job â€" and they did.

"I think our tyres showed they were very consistent and the lap times of Michelin's leading teams varied a lot less than those of other cars at the front. The Williams lapped in the 1 minute 16s range more often than any other cars. I was delighted to see that and am sure we will have a very competitive final few races at the end of the season."

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen suffered a blown tyre during the race, and Dupasquier claimed they suspected the Finn must have ran over some debris.

"Our initial suspicion is that he sustained a cut tyre by running over debris and that it began to lose pressure slowly," he said. "When you run hard on a deflating tyre there comes a point at which it will fall apart completely."