Japanese GP: Michelin Friday practice notes

FISICHELLA AND MICHELIN SET THE PACE AT DRYING SUZUKA

Michelin drivers were fastest in both free practice sessions at Suzuka today, as teams prepared for the Japanese Grand Prix - the penultimate race of the Formula One season. Anthony Davidson (Honda) was comfortably quickest on a streaming wet track this morning, while Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) posted the day's best lap - a 1m 34.337s - as the rain abated sufficiently to allow drivers to run on dry tyres during the final 15 minutes of the second session.

Fisichella's title-chasing team-mate Fernando Alonso was fourth on aggregate, ahead of a clutch of Michelin drivers including Davidson (fifth), Sebastian Vettel (BMW Sauber, sixth), Jenson Button (Honda, seventh), Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren Mercedes, eighth), Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren Mercedes, 10th) and Michael Ammermüller (Red Bull Racing, 12th).

Michelin's day
Nick Shorrock, Michelin F1 director:

"Today has been quite unusual because we were able to evaluate all four of our tyre products - full wets, intermediates and both dry-weather specifications. This morning it was clear that our wet tyres worked very well, which underlined what we have seen in previous rain-affected races such as Hungary and China. In the afternoon, every Michelin driver began the session on intermediates, but as the track started to dry significantly we had to keep a close eye on tyre evolution."

"We started using dry tyres during the final quarter of an hour and times continued to tumble as conditions improved. Initial analysis suggests that our primes and options both work very well, but we need to do some detailed analysis before making any firm recommendations to our six partner teams. We need to watch the weather forecast closely, too, because conditions could be quite variable throughout the weekend. There have been a couple of typhoons in the region and the first of those prompted this morning's persistent rain."

-credit: michelin