David Coulthard gave Michelin some consolation by fending off a fierce challenge from Schumacher's team-mate Rubens Barrichello to take second, after pole-sitter and Michelin-shod runner Juan Pablo Montoya was taken out the race with an engine failure.

"I'm very satisfied with the way our tyres have performed," Dupasquier commented in a press release. "Juan Pablo drove a strong race and Michelin was right in contention for victory. Montreal is a very hard track but we have had no major problems throughout the weekend."

However, the Frenchman was disappointed to see Montoya removed from the race as he believed Bridgestone's greater wear rate would have given the Colombian a chance to challenge for victory in the latter stages of the race.

"From what we have seen our adversary's tyres were suffering a much greater rate of wear during the closing stages - I think we could tell that from the way Schumacher was driving at a gentler pace than before," he commented.

"If Juan Pablo had still been going at the end I am convinced he would have been able to challenge Michael and I am absolutely certain that he would have passed him, but that's racing. Given the tough nature of the circuit I think our tyres have performed really well - possibly even better than they did two weeks ago in Monaco, when we won."

Michelin took two different compounds, both at the softer end of the range, to the Montreal race. One was new and one had been used before, but Dupasquier refused to disclose any information as to their relative performance.

"I can tell you that Williams and McLaren-Mercedes used different compounds (Williams are believed to have used the harder version), but I'd rather leave it at that," he said.

"The pleasing thing for us was that both were on the pace: different tyres, similar performance. David Coulthard did a fine job to finish second for McLaren after starting on the fourth row of the grid and it was pleasing for us to have three cars in the top six."

He also took the time to explain the trend for Michelin runners to change only their rear tyres during the pit stops in the race. "It was mostly just a question of finding the best possible chassis balance," he remarked. "Some drivers preferred their cars' handling when they ran with used fronts and newer rears.

"A few of our cars managed full-race distances on a single set of fronts without suffering any blistering problems. That was another encouraging aspect of our performance this weekend."