Michelin tyres by far the fastest in Montreal?

Michelin motorsport director Pierre Dupasquier reckons the French tyre manufacturer got it spot on over the weekend, and were easily the match of rival, Bridgestone, despite not taking the win.

"Michelin might not have won this race," said Dupasquier, "but I think it's clear that our cars were the quickest on the track - Fernando Alonso's fastest lap was a measure of our potential."

At the finish, six of the top eight drivers were on Michelin tyres, Ralf Schumacher, who was the best of the bunch in second, noted: "I think our Michelin tyres were better.

"In the latter stages of the race I could have gone faster if I'd had a clear road ahead - but Michael slipped ahead of me at the first stop and after that there was no way I could pass him. I was never quite close enough to try."

Dupasquier continued: "When one of your teams performs well, people underline how good the chassis must be and the tyre is credited with playing a contributory role. When several partner teams run so strongly, it emphasises what a good job the tyres are doing.

"The Williams drivers and Fernando Alonso were both potentially faster than Michael Schumacher - and Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren looked very fast, too, given his one-stop fuel load. In purely technical terms, this was an incredibly strong race for us."