Hiroshi Yasukawa - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport: ”Belgium is the home of Bridgestone Europe so in many ways the Belgian Grand Prix is like a home race for us. Bridgestone Europe employs more than 13000 people throughout Europe, spread between eight tyre plants, one technical centre/proving ground and different national sales organisations. In Belgium itself the Bridgestone Group employs 1100 persons as well as hosts the headquarters of Bridgestone Europe and subsidiary, Bandag Europe. Spa is a fantastic circuit to visit as it has so much history and we are looking forward to an exciting race there.”

Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What are the challenges of Spa?

“Spa is a classic race circuit. It is fast and also has some interesting technical challenges over the course of a lap, and a lap here is longer than anywhere else we visit during the course of a season. There are very long high speed sections, with fast corners. Despite being a fast circuit, the downforce levels used on the cars is quite high, meaning heavy loads are transferred through the tyres. There is significant gradient change over a lap too. Eau Rouge is a very fast corner and the compression at the bottom of the corner means a lot of force through the tyres. Here sufficient tyre pressure is critical.”

What are the primary tyre performance considerations?

“In tyre terms this is a severe circuit. High loads are put through the tyres during a lap. It can be quite cold here, so getting initial heat into the tyres could be a challenge, especially with the higher temperature working range medium compound. We must not, of course, forget the weather. We have seen wet races many times at Spa. Because it is a long course you can have one part dry, one part wet. Tyre choice during the course of the race could well be the deciding factor.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

The contrast could not be more marked as in the space of a week, the Formula 1 championship trail switches from one of the newest tracks on the calendar, the Valencia street circuit, to one of the most famous and historic venues in motor sport, Spa-Francorchamps. While Valencia is a man-made circuit, artificially created around a port, Spa owes its character more to nature than to man, as its sweeping 7.004 kilometres follow the contours of the Ardennes. Even some of the roads leading to the circuit have historic connotations, as they used to form part of the much longer version, used in the early days of the World Championship. Standing in the paddock, there is another obvious contrast, as temperatures in Belgium will be much cooler than those encountered in Spain, although Spa’s version of the humidity encountered last week is of the more obvious rainy variety!

The journey from one venue to the other has in itself been a challenge for the teams, as it is one of the longest drives of the year. The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro transporters and their precious cargo of two F60s and all the equipment, set off from Valencia on Monday morning and the Scuderia mechanics will already be hard at work in Spa today (Wednesday) preparing the cars for Friday practice. The cars will therefore be much the same as in Valencia, apart from the necessary changes to the aerodynamic set-up – basically, lower downforce than last week’s configuration. In addition, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has essentially stopped development of the 2009 F60 to concentrate its R&D resources on 2010, whereas other teams have chosen a different option to achieve their own goals.

As for the famous Ardennes weather, the current forecast for the weekend is mainly dry, but the track has its own micro-climate, so predictions can never be relied on. In addition, the length of the circuit means that it is a common occurrence for part of the track to be dry, while rain falls on another section. The length also has an effect on the way Qualifying is run, as drivers usually cannot afford the luxury of going for two timed laps on one run and as for the rain, if it falls in Q3, then it can be a case of simply running to the end of the session.

The benefit of KERS has been ably demonstrated by our drivers in recent races, however, with the Source hairpin coming so soon after the start, it is unlikely that the first few hundred metres will show the benefit at this track. However, once past the hairpin, the long straight, first downhill to Eau Rouge, a corner which could become more of a challenge again, and then up the hill on the other side will provide the most graphic illustration of what extra power generation can do. In fact, the Scuderia engineers believe that KERS will have more of an impact here than at any other circuit on the calendar. Overtaking is possible at Spa, because of the slipstreaming effect and this year, those cars running KERS will probably be able to run slightly more aerodynamic downforce than those without, thus having a power advantage on the faster sections and more grip on the slower ones.

On the tyre front, Bridgestone is bringing their Soft and Medium compounds, rather than the more usual pattern of bringing two types of tyre with a greater difference between them. It is clear that for the F60 it is usually a case of the softer the better, even if that situation has improved in recent races, but the greater similarity between the Prime and Option at this race, should help on this front. Some uncharacteristic warm weather would also be a benefit.

Ferrari has enjoyed plenty of success at this venue, winning no less than eleven times, with a further four wins in the Belgian Grand Prix, when the race was held at Zolder. In 2004 for example, Ferrari was able to celebrate winning the World Championship well before the season finale, courtesy of Michael Schumacher. On a track where a driver can make the difference, we can expect Kimi Räikkönen to again be very competitive, as he won here three times and last year, had one of his best races, right up to the chaotic final moments of the race, which was eventually won by his team-mate, Felipe Massa. The Finn has also won in other formulae at this track. As for Luca Badoer, after making his race debut for the Scuderia in Spain, he returned home to Montebelluna, doing some training for a couple of days, even though he coped well on the physical side in the torrid conditions last Sunday. Although he has not raced at Spa since 1999, this is at least he circuit he knows, apart from the minor modifications introduced a couple of years ago. Badoer himself expects to make a step forward on the performance front.

Source: Ferrari F1

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Maranello, 25th August 2009

I really enjoy winning, but even a third place can give you some good feelings. We started into the European GP from the sixth position on the starting grid, we had a good start and we managed to gain another place on the podium: we can hardly expect more than this. Our goal is to fight for a position amongst the first three teams and we’ve reached this goal. It was definitely one of my best weekends so far this year, together with the ones in Monaco and Budapest, obviously from a technical point of view.

This year the car runs very well on the city circuits and on the ones with slower corners. In Valencia I had a very good feeling since Friday’s first practice session, when we drove a lot with lots of petrol on board and we knew that if we could gain a decent result in the qualifying and had a good start we’d have the possibility to fight for a place on the podium - and that is how it went in the end. The F60’s race set up is better than the one for the qualifying; due to that fact we could be faster than Kovalainen’s McLaren during the middle stint: during this part of the race I was constantly informed about my own and Heikki’s lap times, giving 110%. The car was set up well and the speed was high enough to overtake him during the pit stop.

With the points we gained, we are still ahead of McLaren in the Constructors’ Championsip. This is our goal as a team, but it’s very difficult to reach, considering that we stopped developing this car, concentrating on the one for the upcoming season.

In a couple of days we’ll be on the track again for the Belgian GP. The main goal is to hold the standard of the last races, which means that we have to try to get on the podium again. I always loved racing at Spa where I’ve won many times since I started my career in the smaller racing series. I really like driving here: 44 laps might be not enough! Last year everything went up in smoke due to the rain at the end of the race and I ran into a wall: I set all on victory and I didn’t have anything to lose. This year the situation is slightly different, also because we don’t have a car that’s able to compete on the highest performance level. But we’ll give it our all - and even more - for a good result.

You need a very good set up for the car for the fast corners in Spa. Overtaking doesn’t happen very often this year so it’s very important to have a good qualifying. We’ll always have the KERS at the start. 

Source - Kimi’s Official Site

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

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

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

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

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

FIA Thursday  Drivers Press Conference - Hungarian GP 

Drivers: Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Mark Webber (Red Bull)

Q: Robert, you organised a karting event last weekend. Can you tell us about it and how it relates to Formula One?
Robert Kubica: To say I organised it, is a bit too much. We did have some idea with Timo (Glock) to go karting for a very long time but it never worked out for one year. Then finally we fixed a date. We knew that maybe Michael (Schumacher) was coming, so we asked some drivers and they joined us, so we had good fun, a good days of driving. Also a bit of competition because once you have drivers, even if it is not an F1 track, but karting there is always competition. There is always someone who wants to be the fastest but overall I think it was good fun. There were drivers which drove for the first time in karts, so they really saw it is a hard job and it was good fun.

Q: So who was there and who was fastest?
RK: Michael was the fastest. (Vitantonio) Liuzzi was also very good.

Q: And you?
RK: I was not bad. It depends what you were testing. We were just testing with the chassis as we are preparing for a World Championship which will take place in September. I have also my driver down there and he was the fastest apart from F1 drivers. We tried testing, just preparing materials and chassis for the world championship.

Q: Let’s come to this race.
RK: Back to reality.

Q: You were there two days racing.
RK: Yes, two days.

Q: You made your debut here a couple of years ago and you were in the points until you were disqualified. This is going to be your 50th grand prix. What are your feelings about this circuit?
RK: Well, I mean as you mention, I made my debut here, so it is kind of a circuit which I will remember for very long. Always fantastic atmosphere due to Polish fans which are always coming here with good atmosphere, good cheering. Unfortunately, I have never scored good results here. I did last year and the year before a points’ finish but never 100 per cent what we could do. For this year I think we have the smallest chance to make a good result from the Hungarian Grand Prix, so I hope to make a good race.

Q: Your best is fourth in qualifying and fifth in the race. It is a circuit which a lot of people really enjoy though, isn’t it?
RK: Yeah, I think this is the kind of track which you either like or you don’t like it at all. I am a driver who likes it. It is a bit different. It is true that it is a bit too small maybe for an F1 car but it is very challenging physically and also for the cars. You have to find the best balance that is possible. It is always very demanding on the tyres, so there are many things which you have to take care of.

Q: Jaime, welcome to Formula One. How do you want your name pronounced, throughout the world?
Jaime Alguersauri: I know it’s a little bit tough. My name is ‘Heimi Al-gay-shuari’. 

Q: What are your feelings about coming into Formula One at this stage, half way through the season? How much Formula One mileage have you done already?
JA: To be honest, I have done just two aero tests. For sure I am really happy to be here, to learn the car and learn a new situation but at the end it is just another car for me, another car in my racing career, in my life. I am very happy to drive and I am looking forward to it.

Q: It might be suspected that because you haven’t done GP2 you don’t know the circuits. What is the situation?
JA: I know this track. I raced here before. I am quite lucky for that. I know more or less all of the tracks in Europe but obviously the overseas ones I don’t know them really, like Japan, Singapore and Brazil, so for sure it is a good year to learn the tracks in Formula One as well.

Q: What has been the reaction in Spain?
JA: I think very good. They wanted another Spanish driver, so they have it now.

Q: Kimi, let’s go forward to next weekend and Rally Finland. What are your thoughts about that?
Kimi Raikkonen: I think it will be a completely different thing. I have done a few rallies but it is like club races compared to the Finland Rally. I will just go there and have fun and hopefully we are going to make it to the end and that would be nice.

Q: There are quite a few modifications to the car this weekend. What are you expecting from them?
KR: Yeah, I mean my car has some new stuff. A new front wing from what we had in the last race but unfortunately we only had one part. We have some new floor parts and a rear wing. Hopefully it will help us. This circuit is more like Monaco and the car seemed to be working pretty well there, so hopefully we can have a bit better weekend than the last one.

Q: You have been on the podium here for the last two years. And you’ve won and you’ve been on pole position, so your thoughts about the circuit as a whole?
KR: It is quite a nice circuit. For driving it is quite a good challenge. It is not easy to get the car right here but for the racing it can easily get a bit boring. It is a bit more like Monaco though here it is slightly easier to overtake but you need to be quite a bit faster than the guy in front of you to get past him. We will see how it goes but it is a nice place to come.

Q: What about the advantage of KERS coming out of the final corner going down into the first corner? Is it the main place for overtaking?
KR: Yeah, if you get a good run out of the last corner, then definitely the KERS will help you. On the start it will help you as it is quite a long straight before the first corner. Sure we will find out some advantage with the KERS and anyhow with that we always seem to be faster, so for us it is only a good thing.

Q: Mark, obviously the last race was a fantastic victory for you. What has happened since then? What are your feelings now coming into this? Has it been a great weight off your shoulders?
Mark Webber: It has been busy since the German Grand Prix. In Australia, there has been a lot of press down there. I actually had a pretty busy week planned anyway without the victory. It has been busy, no question about it. It is a bit of a weight off my shoulders of course, it is always nice to get off the mark. It would have been nicer to do it before but did not really have the chance. Germany was a great opportunity for me to do it off the pole position and it worked out very well for me and it was a big day for me and the team getting a one-two, capitalizing on our performance. That is also what we are focussing on, so it was great.

Q: And since then a great piece of news today that you have signed for next year?
MW: Yes, looking forward to staying with the guys again next year. We have had a good relationship ever since we started together and we have been through some pretty tough times in terms of development. But obviously at the moment we got hold of the new regulations pretty well. The car has been quick at all venues. We know there are going to be some teams coming towards the end of the championship. I think also starting this weekend with Renault, Ferrari and McLaren. Those guys are coming but I am very, very happy to stay at Red Bull in the future. I think we can have a good 18 odd months together and we will see what happens at the end of next year.

Q: What are your feelings about his circuit? You have a best in qualifying of third and a best finish of sixth in 2003.
MW: Well, as Kimi has already mentioned, it is pretty similar to Monaco. It is not exactly Spa or Suzuka or Silverstone but it is another track on the calendar that we have to cope with. It is not too bad. The rhythm in the second sector is sometimes quite rewarding, trying to get it alright at the top there. It is a different track, no question about it, to a lot of the other ones. It is very different to others we race on, very tight and twisty. It has always been the same. I don’t mind driving here actually, it is a pretty good little track and one that you have got to get your head around. There is no point whinging about it, everyone has got the same piece of tarmac and we have got to do the best job we can. 

Q: Looking at the last couple of races, how much do you believe Red Bull Racing made a step forward and how much do you believe that it was a bit of a drop off in the performance of Brawn? What is the relationship between those two?
MW: Well, Jenson (Button) for sure had a very strong race in Turkey. That was the last time we raced in slightly warmed conditions. Silverstone and the Nurburgring were a bit cooler and we capitalized with the two one-twos. We know we have added some performance to the car. We don’t know what Brawn have done to their car but we know we are going faster. If they do start closing this weekend they will do that. We are doing our best and they are doing their best. We don’t really think that people are going slower. We think our performance the last couple of races was because we have been going faster.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Jaime, it has been suggested already that because you lack experience and because you are so young and that you do not have the mileage underneath your belt and because there are there are other drivers out there that are perhaps more deserving of a drive in F1 that you shouldn’t really be in the sport at such a young age. What would you say to those people that are suggesting that?
JA: I know I am not really experienced. I know I need some mileage in the car and that is what we are here for. I think as I said before that this is a new car for me, a new championship for me. I need to learn and I need to have experience. The first weekend around here we know it is not an easy track to do the first race but obviously this is the situation right now and we have to do our best job and drive the car. The most important thing to learn the tracks as much as we can this year and to get the best possible experience from that.

Q: (Ed Gorman - The Times) Mark, can you just detail what the technical position of the car is this weekend? Are there any changes specifically for this race?
MW: Very small, very small. Not big changes at all. A few very tiny mechanical and aerodynamic changes but not like the big changes we have seen in the past, so quite small.

Q: (Peter Windsor - Speed TV) Mark, I noticed when you mentioned the teams that you thought were going to come up in the second half of the year you didn’t mention BMW. I just wondered if you think that Robert’s out of it now?
MW: Ah, well. We know Robert’s a great driver. He was in with a chance in the championship last year. It goes to show how fickle these cars are obviously, but he’ll be back again when he gets a quick car. I think the situation we saw in Nurburgring was that Lewis was not too far away. There was only one McLaren with that type of package (the latest) and also Fernando was pretty strong as well, so there are signs that there are teams coming back and Ferrari have always been pretty close. This type of track is probably a little bit more suited maybe, so we will see how the whole back of the championship goes but I think at this venue in particular, you guys are in for a bit more of a tighter race between all teams. 

Q: (Marco Degl’Innocenti - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, what’s your target from now until the end of the season, what’s your target for Ferrari? 
KR: I think the team target is to try to finish in third place in the championship. I think that’s what we’re aiming for. For myself, I will try to win as many points as I can, as many good results as we can and that’s all we can try to do. 

Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters) Mark, apart from all the interest in Australia about the win, has there been any interest from the corporate side, the corporate Australia in actually getting behind you and putting some money behind you? When you came into this sport you had several Australian backers and you haven’t got any now and I don’t think there are any in Formula One anymore. 
MW: Hey, look, it’s quite difficult for them to compete against the European markets over here. I think with the Australian dollar (being as it is) it’s not that easy to be honest, and also, I’m part of the Red Bull family, very much so and fully immersed with them. I don’t want to have Fred’s Lawn Mower Service on my sleeve for the sake of disrupting the Red Bull brand, so Red Bull is very important to us. 

Q: (Sven Pistor - ARD Radio) Mark, how do you describe your relationship right now to Sebastian Vettel in your team?
MW: Amazing. It’s so good, it’s brilliant! We’re like brothers! It’s fine. It’s the same as every other team-mate I’ve had. We have professional relationships. It’s obviously the most asked question of me from all the German press but at the end of the day we turn up, we drive the cars, we go home. We’re not ringing each other between races to see what we’re up to. He’s here to do a job and so am I. 

Q: (Sarah Holt - BBC) A question for you, Jaime. Speaking of relationships with your team mates, I wanted to ask you how Sebastien has been helping you? The two rookies are in the same team; I guess he hasn’t got much experience either. Has he been able to help you at all?
JA: To be honest I think everyone is working on his own, because he also has a lot of work to do and he’s also learning, as you said, he’s in his first year. I’ve not really talked with him so much but we will do these days, for sure, and at the end, for sure he needs to learn, I need to learn and everyone needs to gain experience. 

Q: (Joris Fioriti - AFP) Jaime, what’s your state of mind right now? Are you very stressed? Are you confident? What do you think can happen at this race and the next ones? 
JA: I’m relaxed, I know what I can do, I know what people expect from me and the most important thing is that I know what I have to do. As I said before, it’s another car, another race in my racing career, and in the end it’s just one steering wheel and two pedals like everything. That’s the target: to learn and to drive. 

Q: (Carlos Miquel - Diario AS) Jaime, this morning you were visited by Fernando Alonso. What did Fernando say to you and how is your relationship with him? 
JA: We had a talk this morning. He obviously congratulated me for getting the seat. He’s very happy and he told me to have fun, enjoy the moment and that’s what I would say to another driver if it was the same situation. 

Q: (Ed Gorman - The Times) Another one for Mark: can you just give us a bit more of a sense of how you see the balance of power with Brawn, in particular the technical advances that your car’s made as against the better climatic conditions here for the Brawns? Do you feel that you guys can be up with them, even in conditions which perhaps suit their car better? 
MW: Absolutely. We need to race them this weekend. We’ve closed in the constructors’ championship, not just in the last two races but races before that and they were also hot, although Jenson won, but collectively as a team, we’ve done well. That’s why we’re second in the championship and we’re not a million miles away from the Constructors, so we’re happy to go to every venue, any conditions, and race against Brawn, of course we are. The track temperatures and all those kind of things - we haven’t yet had this package at a very, very hot venue. We don’t have the luxury these days of testing in Jerez and getting a feel for different things, so the only time we get to do it is when we go racing. So actually it’s pretty hard to know how the balance of power will be come Sunday. But there’s no question about it, we expect to be competitive. Whether we have the advantage that we’ve had in the past remains to be seen. That’s the way we went into Nurburgring. We thought - and they thought - that they would be closer to us in Nurburgring, and maybe some other people did as well, but actually it turned out that Nurburgring was better than Silverstone. We’d have more of an answer if we tested but we don’t, so we’re doing our testing on Sundays now and there’s just a bit more at stake. 

Q: (Mark Webber) I’ve got a question for Kimi. I want to know who’s doing Kimi’s pace notes? Is he brave man or not? 
KR: Yeah. He used to do it before for Tommi Mäkinen, so he should be OK. He’s survived until now, so he should be OK. 
MW: Honestly, I think it’s a real credit to Kimi that he’s having a crack at it. It’s a really brave thing to do, so I wish Kimi all the best for tackling one of the hardest rallies in the world. We should take our hats off to him, so good luck with it. 
KR: Cheers. 

Q: (Istvan Simon - Autopiac) Robert, last year when you came here you were one of the favourites for the World title and lots of Polish flags were in the grandstands. This year it’s a completely different situation. How has it changed your mind, your preparation for this race? 
RK: It hasn’t had any effect on my preparation for this race. As usual, I’m preparing as always, trying to prepare physically as far as possible as well as technically with the set-up and of course with the work we have to do for all races. Every time it’s a new race it’s a different story, so we are trying to extract the maximum from our car and trying to do our best. Of course we know that this year our best is much more limited than it was last year but anyway we will try to do as well as we can. 

Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters) Mark, can I ask you, as one of the oldest race winners - without being too ageist about it - how would you have coped, coming in to Formula One as a 19-year old? 
MW: Probably wouldn’t have been ready, to be honest, but these days they seem to be ready a lot earlier. I’ve never been a big fan of Formula One being a learning school but it seems like it is these days. I don’t think Formula One is a learning school. When you arrive in Formula One you should be ready. It’s not a place to learn. Anyway, some guys are doing that but it’s harder without testing these days. I think we’re going to see a bit more of it, maybe, in the future where guys are learning. It’s not the same case as when we had a guy here a few years ago lapping eight seconds off the pace which was totally ridiculous. Jaime won’t be like that, he will be quick enough, obviously, and he’s going to learn but they’re coming younger every time now but that’s the way it is. After Formula Ford they want to be in Formula One. It was only Kimi, a long time ago, and after that we had quite a big gap. It’s quite cheap if you can do it that way, go from Formula Ford to Formula One, it’s a cheap option but it’s not that easy when you arrive.

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts

23 July, 2009 – Round 10

Bridgestone Motorsport Hungarian Grand Prix Preview

Bridgestone will bring its two stickiest tyres to the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 24-26 which takes place on the tight and twisty 4.38km Hungaroring, one of the lowest grip circuits on the calendar.

The soft and super soft Bridgestones will be used in Hungary. This is the same combination as used in Monaco, and means that the general convention of leaving a rubber hardness gap between the two tyres Bridgestone brings to a race is not employed. The reason for this is the slippery surface of the Hungaroring circuit which does not receive much use during the course of the year, except for during the Grand Prix weekend.  

The Hungaroring is a noteworthy venue for Bridgestone as it was very nearly the venue of the first Formula One race win on Bridgestone tyres, when Damon Hill came within a lap of winning the 1997 race for Arrows.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, said:

“Hungary is an important market for Bridgestone and it is also the home of our Tatabanya plant, which was officially opened in 2008. This plant uses our new fully-automated production system which is called BIRD (Bridgestone Innovative & Rational Development). This is the most automated tyre production system in the world, and shows that Bridgestone uses advanced technology and processes not only for our Formula One involvement.”

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

What are the challenges of the Hungaroring?

“The Hungaroring is an interesting circuit, especially as it is not used much during the year. This means the circuit grip levels experienced on Friday are likely to be very different from those experienced in the race. For deciding set-up and tyre strategy, this makes things difficult, and competitors will have to work hard. Tyre management, particularly with graining, is very important, and qualifying position is crucial as overtaking is difficult. Also, we are ever mindful of the weather as it can get very hot there, although we have seen rain in the past, notably when Jenson Button scored his first F1 race victory in 2006.”

Why has the tyre allocation gap not occurred for this race?

“We are bringing consecutive tyres from our range to Hungary because of the slippery surface and the circuit layout. This is the slowest speed permanent race circuit that we visit during the course of the season, and the surface itself is not aggressive enough to help generate heat in the tyres. The super soft and the soft Bridgestones are both from our low temperature working range of tyres. This makes it easier for the teams and drivers to generate heat and get the best performance from them.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

8 July, 2009 – Round 9

Bridgestone Motorsport German Grand Prix Preview

Bridgestone returns to the circuit of Nurburgring after a year’s absence where the medium and supersoft compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres will be used for the German Grand Prix on July 10-12.

Last year’s race in Germany took place at Hockenheim, so this will be an interesting return to the venue which provided a very exciting wet weather race in 2007. The medium and super soft allocation is the same as used earlier this season in Australia, China and Bahrain.

This is a location which has good historical importance for Bridgestone. The first major European race win on Bridgestone tyres occurred here on the Nordschleife circuit in April 1981, when Thierry Boutsen crossed the line first in his BMW-powered March 812 in the Formula 2 championship.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, said:

“Germany is a good market for Bridgestone and one where we experience high levels of brand awareness. Our participation in Formula One has played a big part in building this brand awareness and we always have strong support in the home country of so many major motor manufacturers. We are

always happy to return to a venue which has rich history for us in the early days of Bridgestone’s motorsport participation.”

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

What are the challenges of the Nurburging?

“The Nurburgring circuit features an interesting mixture of very fast, medium fast and slow corners, so finding the correct set-up compromise is a challenge for competitors. Our tyre allocation of the medium and super soft Bridgestones should mean exciting racing. Sectors one and three are more demanding on tyre grip, traction and braking performance than in the middle sector, and it is an exciting undulating circuit. The first corner, which has a variety of racing lines, and the chicane provide good overtaking opportunities. Braking balance is also important here and care has to be taken not to lock-up and flat-spot the tyres when slowing.”

Are there particular weather considerations?

“Last time we visited this circuit there was a very exciting wet weather race. The location of the Nurburgring, in the Eifel region of Germany, does often present unpredictable weather. The time of year should mean quite hot weather, but we have previously seen quite cool temperatures there, even in the summer. When we look back on Bridgestone’s history at the Nurburgring, we’ve even seen snow on a DTM race weekend in April, so we never know quite what to expect!”

Stats & Facts

Number & Spec of tyres brought to Nurburgring

1800 (Medium & super soft dry. Intermediate/wets)

Pole position time 2007:1min 31.450secs (Raikkonen)

Fastest race lap 2007:  1min 32.853secs (Massa)

Top three 2007:Alonso, Massa, Webber

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts