Finally we’re getting back to the track! This year the summer break was longer than usual and I had the possibility to recharge my batteries for the last part of the season. The first week of the break I dedicated to the Finland Rally, which was an experience I really enjoyed a lot, despite the outcome. It was really fun driving at the max in the Rally in my home country, seeing so many Ferrari fans there. Then I spent some time with my family and my best friends, doing some sport to keep me fit.I’ll have a new teammate at Valencia. Instead of Felipe – and I want to wish him all the best for a speedy recovery again – there will be Luca Badoer. He has been the official Scuderia test driver for many years, and I’m glad that he finally got the chance to race a Ferrari. I really wish him good luck and I’m sure that we’ll work well together.

We got a good result in Hungary, which allowed us to climb back on the third place in the Constructors’ Championship. This is the Team’s realistic goal for the final part of the season. For myself I hope to win at least one race, after a third place in Monaco and a second at Budapest. In Hungary we seemed to be back to the duels we saw over the last two years, Ferrari vs. McLaren, but I don’t think that this will be the case at the European GP. We’re racing on a city circuit at Valencia, but with very different characteristics compared to the others and compared to Budapest, which is the fastest of them. This year we did quite well on tracks like this, just look at Melbourne - where I could have finished on the podium - Monaco and Budapest. 

Last year I didn’t end the race at Valencia caused by an engine failure. So this year I want to return and maybe even gain a place on the podium. This is our realistic goal, although we know that it will be difficult. The qualifying will be fundamental: it will be important to start from one of the front rows, maybe even from the clean side of the track. It’s really a disadvantage when you have to start from the dirty side of the grid on this track, because it’s never used during the rest of the year. It’ll also be important to have constant performance throughout the race: it’s easy to loose time with little mishaps. I’m expecting extremely high temperatures and humidity, which will make it all even more difficult for us during the weekend.

Source - Kimi’s Official Site & Ferrari World

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Bridgestone will bring its two softest tyres to the European Grand Prix on August 21-23 which takes place on the exciting 5.44km Valencia street course, located in the port area of Spain’s third largest city.

The venue, which was new on the calendar last year, provides an interesting challenge. Although it is a temporary race facility the circuit layout resembles that of a permanent race track. The circuit has 25 corners to challenge the drivers, making set-up a real compromise. This Grand Prix will see the 150th race win taken on Bridgestone tyres.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, said:
“Bridgestone Spain is one of the most important subsidiaries of the Bridgestone Group, with over 4,000 employees, so it is good for us to visit Spain for a second time this year. We enjoy high brand awareness and good market share in Spain and this has been assisted by our Formula One activities. Over half of our Spanish tyre production is exported throughout the European Community so this illustrates the importance to us. Valencia was a fantastic addition to the Grand Prix calendar in 2008 and this year we look forward to returning and seeing the 150th race win taken on Bridgestone F1 tyres. This is a momentous occasion and we are very proud to supply Formula One.”

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

What are the challenges of the Valencia street course?
“This is an interesting track. It has the high speed configuration of a permanent circuit, however the track surface gives away that this is only a temporary facility. There are numerous turns, yet there are also many high speed sections and we see speeds of around 300kph five times during the course of a lap. There are low-speed corners too, so some heavy braking does take place. On the slippery surface that accompanies a street course it is difficult to find grip off line.”

What did Bridgestone learn in its first visit here last season?
“Last year we saw a lot of circuit surface evolution over the weekend and it was very much a learning process for everyone who attended the race. I think that everyone will continue to learn more about this venue when we visit it this season. We also found last year that the infamous gap between the bridge surface and the road surface presented no difficulties for our Formula One tyres. Last year our visit to Valencia was a momentous one as it was here that we celebrated our 200th Grand Prix participation since our entry in 1997.”

Stats & Facts
Number & Spec of tyres brought to Valencia 1800 (Soft & super soft dry. Intermediate/wets)
Pole position time 2008: 1min 38.898secs (Massa)
Fastest race lap 2008: 1min 38.708secs (Massa)
Top three 2008: Massa, Hamilton, Kubica 

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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