British GP: Michelin race notes

ALONSO WINS AGAIN AS MICHELIN CELEBRATES 99TH F1 SUCCESS Fernando Alonso (Renault/Michelin) drove a perfectly controlled race to win today's British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Spaniard took the lead from pole position and was never seriously ...

ALONSO WINS AGAIN AS MICHELIN CELEBRATES 99TH F1 SUCCESS

Fernando Alonso (Renault/Michelin) drove a perfectly controlled race to win today's British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Spaniard took the lead from pole position and was never seriously challenged throughout the 60 laps. It was his fifth victory of the season - and the 99th of Michelin's illustrious Formula One history.

Six Michelin drivers from three partner teams scored points today. Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren Mercedes) was third ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault, fourth), Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren Mercedes, sixth), Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber F1 Team, seventh) and Jacques Villeneuve (BMW Sauber F1 Team, eighth).

Michelin's day
Nick Shorrock, Michelin F1 director:

"This was Michelin's sixth win of the year and we are, once again, delighted with our tyres' performance. Our partners used four different types of product in this race and all of them fulfilled our expectations in very demanding conditions."

"The track seemed to offer much more grip today and it only took Fernando Alonso nine laps to dip into the 1m 22s bracket - a level of performance we hadn't hitherto seen this weekend during long runs."

"The circuit seemed to evolve further during the second stint, when drivers began to complain about understeer rather than the oversteer that had previously been the principal characteristic. We witnessed a little bit of graining in the race, but we had anticipated that would be the case and it didn't cause us any problems."

"Our recent run of success will not make us complacent. We appreciate that the competition is incredibly tight and there will be no let-up as we chase a century of grand prix victories."

Team perspective on tyres
Pat Symonds, executive engineering director, Renault F1 Team:

"Silverstone is a very tough track as we know and it was made even tougher this weekend by the unusually high track temperatures. Even under these conditions, Michelin once again came up with the goods this afternoon."