Fastest Lap Times
01 M Webber Red Bull 1:32.569
02 S Vettel Red Bull 1:32.572
03 K Raikkonen Ferrari 1:32.999
04 J Trulli Toyota 1:33.152
05 J Button Brawn 1:33.251
06 L Hamilton McLaren 1:33.259
07 R Kubica BMW 1:33.334
08 G Fisichella Ferrari 1:33.479
09 N Rosberg Williams 1:33.595
10 N Heidfeld BMW 1:33.600
11 A Sutil Force India 1:33.668
12 H Kovalainen McLaren 1:33.801
13 R Barrichello Brawn 1:33.910
14 F Alonso Renault 1:33.946
15 J Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:34.049
16 T Liuzzi Force India 1:34.294
17 R Grosjean Renault 1:34.643
18 K Nakajima Williams 1:34.783
19 S Buemi Toro Rosso 1:35.392

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“Towards the end, I had to fight off Sutil who was very quick and was on the soft tyre, while I was on the hard: at this point the KERS came in handy. Now I am looking forward to Interlagos in a more confident mood: it will be important to get a slightly better start position to try and finally make it into the points.”

Kimi Raikkonen - 4th: “Today the car wasn’t bad, but it was not quick enough to fight for the podium. This fourth place is useful in terms of keeping the team in third place in the Constructors’ Championship, but it will be hard to hang onto it over the final two races. I will definitely do everything I can though.

“I was unable to make up places at the start, especially as the first corner is not that far from the start line and so I was unable to make the most of the KERS. In the first stint, when I was on hard tyres, the situation was a bit difficult, but then, once on the softs, things improved considerably. I managed to close on Heidfeld and pass him at the pit stop, even though, coming away from my stop, I found myself in traffic behind Button. Then there was not much to fight for to the end of the race.”

Stefano Domenicali: “All things considered, this is a positive result: I don’t think we could have done any more than this fourth place. We got the most out of the F60 as it stands today and, thanks to yet another great drive from Kimi, we also managed to stay third in the Constructors’ classification. Giancarlo also drove a good race, driving competitively in terms of pace and performance, as can be seen from the fact he set the eighth best lap time. In the middle stint, on the soft tyre, both our drivers were very quick, their lap times matching those of the best. The team worked well and we must continue to do so for the final two races left to run in this strange season, fighting tooth and nail to reach the target we set ourselves from the mid-season onwards.”

Chris Dyer: “After the disappointment of Singapore, it’s nice to see Kimi again finish a race in a good position. With hindsight, there’s some disappointment with a result that could have been even better: we opted to start on the hard tyres on Kimi’s car, because we weren’t entirely sure about how the soft ones would work over a distance. In fact, their performance stayed consistent, as we saw in the second part of the race, when both our drivers were very competitive. On top of that, we failed to make up places at the start, which is what we usually manage.

“We played about a bit with the stops to try and pass Heidfeld and we managed it. In the final stint, it seemed at one point that Hamilton had a problem and then the Safety Car closed everyone up. Kimi tried to see if there was room to attack him at the re-start but there was not. Giancarlo drove a good race and it was important for him and for the team to see him fighting with Kovalainen and Alonso for a place just outside the points. It’s a shame that, coming out of pit lane after his second stop, he lost a place in his battle with the McLaren driver.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Vettel finished over four seconds ahead of Panasonic Toyota Racing driver Jarno Trulli, who used the same tyre strategy, whilst Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton used soft – hard – soft to finish third.

Shoshi Arakawa - Bridgestone Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, says
“Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel for his victory here at the Suzuka Circuit. The Japanese Grand Prix was held at Suzuka in beautiful weather today after a two year interval, and I believe the spectators thoroughly enjoyed the world’s top class battles of Formula One. We are proud that our tyres have helped to provide an impressive and exciting race. Bridgestone, as the Official Tyre Supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship, will continue to support all of the teams and drivers with our full efforts for the season’s remaining two races.”

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, says
“Well done to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing for keeping the drivers’ championship alive with a thrilling win. Congratulations to Jarno Trulli for scoring Toyota’s second podium finish in as many races and also to the reigning champion Lewis Hamilton for his third place for McLaren. We were privileged to have many Bridgestone guests, staff and board members here to enjoy fantastic racing.”

Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says
“From the beginning of the race the soft tyre worked well, however in the second two thirds of the race it really came alive and we saw very good race performance from this tyre. The high track temperature meant that the hard compound could be used at the start which would not be as advisable on a colder track due to longer warm-up requirements. This was a safe strategy for those concerned by any degradation from the soft, however those who did opt to use the soft at the start saw good performance.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Revised grid & declared weights

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 658.5kg
2. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 655.5
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 656
4. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 660
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 661
6. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 660.5
7. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 684.5
8. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 650
9. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 686
10. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 658.5
11. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 675
12. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 682.5
13. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 665.4
14. Giancarlo Fisichella, Ferrari, 661.5
15. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 695.7
16. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 689.5
17. Romain Grosjean, Renault, 691.8
18. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 682.5
19. Mark Webber, Red Bull, n/a

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Kimi Raikkonen - 8th: “I don’t think we could have expected much more today. We know what our potential is and we have to accept that. Here, the situation is definitely better than in Singapore, but we continue to struggle, especially with a lack of aerodynamic downforce, which makes itself felt especially in the first sector. Overall, the car is working well and it’s nice to drive on such a demanding track as this, where the slightest error is heavily punished, as we saw today. It’s a shame I didn’t have new soft tyres for Q3, but we had to use them earlier to avoid being knocked out: all in all it was a good qualifying. Tomorrow, we will try and have a good race: it will be difficult to fight for the top spots, but we will try and we can count on having a good strategy.”

Chris Dyer: “A really close fought qualifying. Another great performance from Kimi, at every stage of the session. It’s a shame that, for just a few hundredths in Q3, he could have got a better grid position. We were the only ones to get to the final part without any new soft tyres, as we didn’t want to take any risks in Q1, but we are happy with how things went all the same, partly because we have a lot of fuel on board and think we have a good strategy for tomorrow’s race. It’s a bit disappointing for Giancarlo who missed out on Q2 by a whisker: he is improving day by day and we are sure that tomorrow, he will make another step forward and therefore have a good race.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Bridgestone’s soft tyre carried Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) to his fourth pole position of the season for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Vettel set a time of 1min 32.160secs in a qualifying session which was red flagged three times. Panasonic Toyota Racing Driver Jarno Trulli set the fastest time in the morning practice session, also using the soft Bridgestone Potenza.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

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Free Practice 2 Times
01 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:47.261 5 laps
02 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:47.923 6 laps
03 V. Liuzzi Force India F1 1:47.931 5 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:47.983 5 laps
05 K. Nakajima Williams 1:48.058 8 laps
06 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:48.691 9 laps
07 F. Alonso Renault 1:48.693 5 laps
08 J. Trulli Toyota 1:48.737 7 laps
09 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:48.802 11 laps
10 R. Kubica BMW 1:48.861 6 laps
11 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:48.886 5 laps
12 K. Kobayashi Toyota 1:49.054 7 laps
13 M. Webber Red Bull 1:49.382 7 laps
14 R. Grosjean Renault 1:49.405 6 laps
15 G. Fisichella Ferrari 1:49.553 5 laps
16 N. Rosberg Williams 1:49.872 8 laps
17 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:50.179 10 laps
18 H. Kovalainen McLaren no time
19 J. Button Brawn GP no time
20 R. Barrichello Brawn GP no time

All Timing Unofficial

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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“I concentrated mainly on the car, trying to understand its handling and I think the situation is reasonably good. We will have to try everything to defend our third place in the constructors’ classification: it will be difficult because the McLarens are very strong and in Singapore they got a great result, although they have not yet got ahead of us. How was the track after three years away? It’s impossible to compare: the tyres and cars are too different to those from 2006.”

Giancarlo Fisichella - 15th: “The day was all about the rain that however should not be a factor on Sunday, which makes everything more complicated. I am pleased with the way the session went this morning, because I quickly had quite a good feeling for the car in the wet and managed to improve with every passing lap, running at the same pace as the best. We hope to improve compared to Singapore, but we know that will be difficult.”

Chris Dyer: “This morning we managed to do a good job in the wet, first on the extremes and then on the intermediates. Both drivers were reasonably happy with the handling of the car in these conditions: if it was to rain for the race, we have a good basis from which to work. In the afternoon the rain was very heavy for almost the whole session and the track conditions were very difficult, to such an extent that it wasn’t really worth going out and risking damaging the car.

“Giancarlo felt particularly comfortable in these conditions, which confirms his skill level. Now, we have to take into account that the number of sets of rain tyres available to us for the whole weekend is very limited and we have to manage them carefully, to avoid finding ourselves in trouble at the crucial moment. We only did a handful of laps at the end on used tyres and we took the opportunity to do a practice start on the grid.”

Bridgestone’s intermediate tyre was the fastest rubber on Formula One’s return to the challenging and technical Suzuka Circuit as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest lap on the first day of the Japanese Grand Prix.

The morning practice, when Kovalainen set his time, took place on a wet but drying circuit. In the afternoon, continuous rain meant that only the final 30 minutes saw timed laps and only Bridgestone’s wet tyre was used. Adrian Sutil (Force India F1 Team) was the fastest driver. Not all drivers completed timed laps.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today’s running?
“Today we have learnt that our latest specification intermediate tyre works very well here. This tyre stood up well for around 20 laps when used on a drying track. The rain through most of the second session meant no running took place for the first hour. This makes the weekend very interesting as the teams have no data from the dry tyres today.”

How do you expect the allocation to work over the weekend?
“Any data learnt from this morning using the wet and intermediate tyres will be lost in translation for using the dry tyres if the weather is better tomorrow. If it is wet then we will have a very interesting day as the grid could be determined by a wet qualifying session. If it is dry it will also be very
interesting as the teams will have to learn the hard and soft tyre performance with only limited track time. This gives the teams a big challenge, not just for qualifying but also for Sunday’s race.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Bridgestone will bring the hard and soft compound Potenza tyres for Formula One’s return to the superb motor sport facility of Suzuka after two years’ absence for the Japanese Grand Prix on October 2-4.

The past two Japanese Grands Prix were held at Mount Fuji so this will be the first time that all of the current teams will race at this track exclusively on Bridgestone Potenza tyres.

The allocation of hard and soft was previously used in Sepang, Barcelona and Silverstone and it is a
return to the concept of leaving a stiffness gap between allocated tyres.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, said:
“Bridgestone is a Japanese company so our home Grand Prix has special importance for us. It is also ood to return to Suzuka as this venue has been the scene of so many great battles over the years. We will have many special guests and staff from our company attending this event so we are hopeful of an
exciting race.”

Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, said:

What are the challenges of Suzuka?
“We last visited Suzuka in 2006 and a lot has changed in Formula One since then, so teams will have to work hard to understand the circuit with the latest specification cars and tyres. For the younger drivers this will be the first time they visit this circuit so they are set for a delight. The configuration is unique as it is a figure of eight and there are several high speed corners as well as a hairpin, so there is a lot to consider for car set-up and in the race.”

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