US Preview Quotes: Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier, motorsport director: "Michelin enjoys the challenge of Indianapolis. It's a circuit of stark contrasts with the longest straight of the season and a tight infield section. It is a challenge for tyre manufacturers to develop tyres that will withstand the build-up of heat generated by more than 20 seconds on full throttle yet provide enough grip to maximise traction through the tighter parts of the track. I am confident our tyres will be capable of repeating the front-running performance they have shown here in the past."

Pascal Vasselon, F1 programme manager: "The Indianapolis track is obviously highly specific, but not in fact exactly for the reasons you might imagine. The banking is not that difficult for the tyres, despite the extreme loads and speeds, since this helps get the tyres up to temperature more easily. In wet or dry conditions, a good first lap is therefore not a problem. We of course took this into account when finalising our choice of tyres, which we did following tests at Monza and Silverstone. We will have just two types of tyres available at Indy for our partner-teams."