Pedro de la Rosa set the fastest time on the opening day of the French Grand Prix meeting at Magny-Cours. The McLaren-Mercedes Michelin tester was the only driver to dip below the 1m 15s barrier ďż˝ and he did it in both sessions. His 1m 14.460s lap this afternoon put him 0.669s clear of team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, the quickest of the regular racers. World championship leader Fernando Alonso (Renault/Michelin) was third fastest on aggregate. Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault, fifth) was best of the remaining Michelin drivers, ahead of Olivier Panis (Toyota, sixth), Takuma Sato (Bďż˝Aďż˝R-Honda, seventh), Jarno Trulli (Toyota, ninth), Kimi Rďż˝ikkďż˝nen (Team McLaren Mercedes, 10th), Ralf Schumacher (Toyota, 11th) and Jenson Button (Bďż˝Aďż˝R-Honda, 12th).

Michelinďż˝s day
Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director
ďż˝Magny-Cours differs from some other circuits in that it offers good, consistent grip almost from the start of a race weekend. Its character tends not to change too dramatically as more rubber is laid down and we saw some very representative times being set during todayďż˝s first session.
ďż˝It is always nice to race on home soil, of course, but it doesnďż˝t make a shred of difference to our preparations ďż˝ we tackle every grand prix with exactly the same degree of commitment. People sometimes assume we have an unfair advantage in France, but thatďż˝s absolutely not the case because we donďż˝t conduct F1 tests at Magny-Cours.
ďż˝From our data, however, we can see that the tyres we are using this weekend ďż˝ there are two compounds, each available with two subtly different constructions ďż˝ are well suited to the conditions.ďż˝

2005 French Grand Prix - Main Page
2005 French Grand Prix - Team and Driver Friday Practice Reports Page

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