Bridgestone ready for fastest GP of the year
Bridgestone heads to the historic motor sport venue of Monza with the hard and soft Potenza tyres for its final Formula 1 race in Europe, the Italian Grand Prix on September 10-12. With one of the highest top speeds attained of all the circuits on the calendar, Monza puts Bridgestone’s tyres through a number of challenges with its long straights.
Teams utilise low downforce configurations on their cars, putting additional requirements on the mechanical performance of Bridgestone’s tyres.
Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, says: “This will be a very emotional final Formula 1 race in Europe for us. Italy is a country with a rich motor racing heritage and one which Bridgestone has contributed to in the past. Italy is also a strong car producing country and we have a large factory, a sales office, a technical centre and a proving ground near Rome. An important target for our Formula 1 programme was increasing our brand awareness in Europe and participating in Grands Prix at superb venues like Monza has helped us with this goal.”
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says: “The layout of Monza means that teams run with low levels of downforce and this naturally affects the tyres. A greater reliance on mechanical grip is one consideration, and the lower levels of downforce are also relevent for braking stability. Before the chicane in Monza is one area where there is heavy braking from high speeds, so causing flat spots on the tyres can be a consequence of this. Teams will pay close attention to their weight distributions to assist their braking here. Monza is famous for its long straights and these have an interesting impact on tyre performance. They can serve to cool the bulk temperature of the tyres, but they can also highlight if the tyre pressures are not perfect. Too low a pressure and additional resistance is encountered and heat is generated in the tyres, too high and the grip is not as good through the corners.”
