I thought Michelin was supposed to dominate this year according to testing early in the season. I realize Bridgestone and Ferrari have a special deal, but it seems that Michelin has problems, especially when it is cold.

What happened to McLaren dominace in '98? Same here. They are just not good enough at the moment. I, for one, never doubted Bridgestone. I't almost impossible to beat the japanese if they really put their hammer down.

Especially if you are french :)

Yeah, two words sum up how Michelin is lagging. Ferrari, Bridgestone.

Michelin ARE dominating. They are taking pretty much all of the top places in the races. They just have one very large thorn in their side----Ferrari

Originally posted by Pennzoil GT-R
Michelin ARE dominating. They are taking pretty much all of the top places in the races. They just have one very large thorn in their side----Ferrari

When I refer to Michelin domminance, I refer to just that. Ferrari is the target when talking about beating Bridgestone. Who else is there besides Sauber? If BMW and McLaren aren't performing up to expectations because of their tires (Australia etc.), then Michelin aren't dominating. One huge exception is Monaco, otherwise, I am not convinced of Eddie Irvine's comments before the season began when he was quoted as saying Ferrari and Bridgestone will have a tough time catching McLaren, BMW et al. on the Michelins. Then again, Irvine is an idiot...

my personal opinion (and results support this) is that michelin are the better tyre, although not by much. the reason bridgestone/ferrari is winning is because the ferrari is just so damn good. if it were running michelins i reckon ferrari would be putting 1/2 second plus on the other michelin runners every lap

I doubt that. Bridgestone and Ferrari have a very close relationship. B-stone spend all their time making tires for Ferrari because they know the other teams can't win races, and that exposure is all that matters to the tire makers. Michelin certainly are all over the leaderboards race in and race out, but they also supply a lot of the top teams. The true test will be the upcoming European races. M-lins supposedly aren't as good in the cold. But all of this is speculation - for any of us to say these things with confidence we'd have to drive a car with both tires. I hope someone does another article or something at the end of the year to get individual driver opinions.

i actually think it would be good for one of the top teams( Ferrari, Willaims, Mclaren, maybe Renault or Sauber) to change their tyres next year to see which tyre performs best. Its unlikely though.

And you have a good point in saying Bridgestone concentrate all their efforts on Ferrari, this means they can make a perfect tyre for Ferrari, whereas Michelin has to cater for Williams, McLaren, Renault etc.

It is pretty obvious after The GP of GB that Bridgestone are the dominant tire in all conditions. Not only did Ferrari shine, but the B-stones allowed BAR to score their first points of the year. Michelin has a lot of work to do. Obviously they've found the right formula for a qualifying tire, but that doesn't matter in a race...especially if it rains. If I were Williams or McLaren, I would switch to Bridgestone. Not likely that Williams would do this, as they have had a long standing relationship with Michelin, but it might be a way of telling Michelin to get their act together.

Originally posted by cracker196
It is pretty obvious after The GP of GB that Bridgestone are the dominant tire in all conditions.

sorry but i disagree with you there. i think the main reason for bridgestones dominance was because they had a decent intermediate. Michelin have spent all their effort developing slicks and full wets, and ignored intermediates, and on the day intermediates were the tyre needed. i think their dominance can only be tested on a tyre where both tyres have developed fairly equally

Bridgestone dry tyres ARE better. Jean Todt siad that although Bridges are not too good for qualifying, in race conditions they show the superiority. Bridgestones go quicker with every lap whereas Michelins a best hold their initial laptimes (these are more or less his exact words). And as for intermadiates and full wets (yes, full wets as well, but not to the extent of inermadiates) they allowed laptimes up to 5 seconds quicker than leading Michelins. The advantage is crazy big in my opinion.

AS for Bridgestone concentrating on Ferrari - who else should they concentrate on? Drivers world champions 3 years running and constructors - probabaly 4. So good job Bridgestone. They destroyed Good Year when they entered (and concentrated on McLaren - and I didn't hear Ron complain like he did this year about Michelin devoting most attention to Williams) and they didn't let Michelin do to hem what they did to Good Year.