By Michelin Sport
April 3 2005

Fernando Alonso (Renault/Michelin) scored his second consecutive Formula One victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, third round of this year’s world championship. The Spaniard led all the way from pole position and was left unchallenged once world champion Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari had dropped out with hydraulic problems.

Not only did Michelin maintain its unbeaten start to the F1 season, but its drivers annexed all eight points-scoring positions. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) finished second, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen (Team McLaren Mercedes), Ralf Schumacher (Toyota), Pedro de la Rosa (Team McLaren Mercedes), Mark Webber (BMW WilliamsF1 Team), Felipe Massa (Sauber-Petronas) and David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing).

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin Motorsport Director:

"When we first saw the 2005 Formula One tyre rules, our engineers knew they were taking on a difficult challenge - and I'd like to compliment all of them on a job well done. Our unbeaten start to the season has been a source of great satisfaction. It reflects very well on our technical expertise."

"Today's race was very demanding, because of the extreme temperatures, and we witnessed a number of fascinating battles involving all of our partner teams. It is clear that tyre-wear rates differed from car to car, but none of the Michelin runners had any problem racing hard all the way to the flag."

"This has not been an easy weekend - the increased pace of Michael Schumacher saw to that - but we produced a package that had a clear edge in an extremely competitive situation. We will spare no effort to maintain the upper hand when the world championship returns to Europe later this month."

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