Pierre Dupasquier Retires

Michelin motorsport director, Pierre Dupasquier has bowed out from international motorsport following the company’s 100th pole position and another Grand Prix win. Whilst always likely to be a Michelin pole – the French brand has taken 18 of the 19 top spots in qualifying this season – the 100th such achievement was a fitting way for Dupasquier to leave the F1 paddock, having presided over the company’s return to F1.

“This 100th F1 pole is a nice way to sign off my career,” Dupasquier commented. “Life has changed considerably over the years – I remember, in 1979, that we’d bring twelve sets of qualifying tyres per car to each race, six batches of two different compounds! We were very successful in those days, but have also mastered the more restrictive regulations of recent seasons.

“Our ‘prime’ and ‘option’ tyres will both feature in tomorrow’s grand prix. Thus far we haven’t been generating particularly spectacular first lap performance – but our speed and consistency over long runs has been excellent.”

Fernando Alonso went on to win the Chinese Grand Prix in what the 24-year-old described as one of the easiest wins of the season. Alonso was followed by the McLaren of Kimi Raikonnen and the Toyota of Ralph Schumacher in second and third place respectively.

Michael Schumacher’s last race summed up his distinctly lacklustre season. The seven times world champion then spun out on lap 22 while following the safety car and was handed a reprimand for a separate collision with the Minardi of Christijan Albers in warm up.