Sunday October 13th, 2002

French tyre manufacturer Michelin are satisfied with their performance in this season's Formula One Championship despite scoring only two wins to their rivals Bridgestone's 15.

Despite that fact, Michelin, who returned to Formula One last year after an absence of more than a decade from the sport, have moved forward compared to last season, according to their boss Pierre Dupasquier.

"Last year we were very much taking our first steps back in F1 and this season we have spent time fine-tuning our working methods and the way we develop our products," said Dupasquier. "The result has been a series of solid, quick and reliable tyre compounds that have served our partner teams well.

"We might not have scored as many wins as we did last year, but generally our tyres were much more competitive. We scored 24 podium finishes in all and had at least one driver in the top three at every event. Furthermore, seven of the top nine drivers in the final Championship standings ran on Michelin tyres."

The Bridgestone-shod Ferrari team have won all but two races this season, with Michelin partners McLaren and Williams taking a victory each. Dupasquier said the manufacturer have already started working on their programme for the 2003 season, and they will return to the track to prepare for the year.

"We have lots of interesting ideas and will be pressing ahead with our 2003 development programme immediately," he added. "We think we have identified areas where we can make small but significant gains. We'll be back on track in mid-November with some new compounds and constructions.

"The season might be over but we are highly motivated about next season and raring to go."

Published at 11:44:00 GMT