Trulli predicts Williams will dominate

Michelin-shod cars took the first seven places in Friday qualifying and Trulli, who did many laps in free testing on Friday morning, claimed he could do an entire race on one set of tyres!

"On one set of tyres I ran this morning I did 25 laps with no problem at all," he said. "It is a really good tyre. The drop off is about 0.7s and then it stays consistent for the rest of the race. I am sure it will get better when more rubber goes down.

"I think we can challenge Ferrari, for sure. On Friday, I think they just played a game and Saturday will be closer, but there is no way to reach Williams. They are just too quick. This will be another Williams weekend."

Trulli and Alonso did relatively little running in Friday free practice, however, and a look at the lap times suggests that most Michelin runners did one or two very quick laps and then times that were significantly slower.

The Bridgestone-shod Jenson Button said: "A lot of people seem to have been using a tyre that is good for qualifying but possibly not so good for the race."

In his 24 laps on Friday morning, for instance, Ralf Schumacher managed only half a dozen laps at better than 1m18s, while his brother's Ferrari, while ultimately slower, ran 15 sub 1m18s laps.

Overtaking is feasible at the new Hockenheim, so Williams to lead with Ferrari coming through? Much could depend on how quickly the Ferraris can dispense with the non-Williams Michelin runners - provided, of course, that they qualify behind them.