Austrian GP preview - Michelin.

There was a lot of hype before the previous world championship race, the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, because it marked the reappearance of traction control in Formula One.

That might explain why the event was sprinkled with a number of dramas. But at the end the Michelin-shod Williams-BMW Team was on the podium once again. Juan Pablo Montoya collected second place after profiting from the retirements of team-mate Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Mika Hakkinen.

Having made a perfect start from 12th place on the grid, the Colombian made the most of the opportunities that came his way to rack up the first championship points of his F1 career - at last. Jean Alesi and new team-mate Luciano Burti finished 10th and 11th in their Michelin-equipped Prost-Acers. Local driver Fernando Alonso (European Minardi/Michelin) had every right to smile after coming home 13th ahead of Benetton Renault Sport drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button, who in turn had cause to be encouraged by their car's reliability.

For Michelin it was a satisfying fifth grand prix of the season. In addition to scoring a top-three finish, its F1 tyres worked well in conjunction with the new traction control systems.

F1 project manager Pascal Vasselon said: "The traction control systems optimise the performance of the rear end of the car in terms of wheelspin. That obviously influences how the car behaves, particularly on a wet track. It also affects the cars' consistency and balance, because it reduces the likelihood of understeer. In the light of recent tests carried out at Magny-Cours, Jerez and Silverstone, the wet and dry tyres Michelin produced for Barcelona were designed with this new characteristic in mind."

Motorsport director Pierre Dupasquier added: "We are a long way from getting on top of all the nuances linked to the introduction of traction control, but we will continue to work closely with our partner teams to come up with the best possible tyre solutions."

Heading to Austria this coming weekend Dupasquier continuned: "We are delighted to be going back to a fantastic part of the world where motor sport and spectacular natural beauty co-exist. It was on the old Zeltweg track that our radial tyres scored one of their first notable successes, in the mid-Seventies. In the wet, the Renault Turbo sports-prototypes of G?rard Larrousse, Patrick Depailler and Jean-Pierre Jabouille were five seconds per lap faster than the Alfa Romeos, which were running on a rival company's tyres."

"But nowadays the Austrian Grand Prix takes place on a remodelled, 4.326km/2.688-mile track of which we have experience through GT racing. It is known for being rustic, but it also twists, rises and dips. The track surface at the A1-Ring is very particular: it is only very mildly abrasive, a complete opposite to Barcelona in some ways. And here, once again, we are stepping into the unknown with some new compounds our engineers have conjured up. We also have to bear in mind that it rains quite often in Austria."

On Sunday (next Sunday) the cars will cover 307.146km (190.861 miles) in 71 laps as they make the long climb through the first two turns before negotiating the wide, sharp corners that spit them back onto the pit straight at 300 km/h (186mph). But although the track is tortuous, the Austrian GP nonetheless produces one of the fastest average race speeds of the season.