By Michelin Sport
July 29 2006

Robert Kubica set fastest time on the opening day of free practice ahead of this weekend's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. Once the track had dried following a short rain shower at the start of the afternoon session, the Pole lapped in 1:16.225. Times were very closely matched at the head of the field and, on aggregate, eight Michelin drivers from five partner teams appeared in the top 12. Anthony Davidson was fourth ahead of Robert Doornbos, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Pedro de la Rosa, Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Nick Shorrock
Formula One Director
Michelin

"This afternoon's rain shower made free practice a little bit livelier than usual. Several of our partners ran on intermediates and Anthony Davidson ventured out on a set of full wets. All our rain products seemed to be working well, but the track dried very quickly so we were unable to draw any firm conclusions about relative performance levels.

"Our dry-weather tyres are looking good, too, and with both types of product working well. The option tyre has a little more graining than the prime but this is only normal and certainly not to same degree as at Magny Cours.

"We have eight different products available this weekend. That presents an added complication because our six partner teams' data is more divergent than it has been at other events, where we've usually had only four or five different types of tyre to analyse.

"The championship is very finely balanced as we approach the 12th race of the season with several teams in strong competition. The role and the performance of the tyre will be an important element of the package and therefore a need to develop innovative and aggressive solutions. All these things present an extra element of challenge – but it adds up to cutting-edge competition of a kind that Michelin relishes."