Bridgestone praised by Brawn

Bridgestone has been praised by the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro technical director Ross Brawn for their part in the Scuderia's dominant one-three result in the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring last Sunday.

"Bridgestone gave us excellent tyres for the race," said Ross. "There was a quicker tyre over a single lap, but it was the consistency of the one we chose that won us the race. There wasn't a better tyre that Bridgestone had that we could use at this circuit."

Michael Schumacher hounded pole sitter and early leader Fernando Alonso for the opening two thirds of the race, before making his move during the second pitstop sequence, when Michael stayed out for three laps longer on light fuel.

"It was a very tight race," said Ross, "and we knew it would be. It was a big relief to see Alonso in the pits for his second pitstop because, if he had gone on longer, I don't know what we would have done. But it was another great drive from Michael - not bad for an old man!"

Felipe Massa's third place - the first podium of his Formula 1 career - capped a perfect day for Ferrari. And Brawn believes that Ferrari and Bridgestone can continue their current run of form in the upcoming races.

"We have a small improvement to the front wing in Barcelona," he said, "and this latest family of Bridgestone tyres can operate in a wide variety of conditions. The new constructions have allowed the tyres to run much cooler, which means we can run softer compounds because they don't degrade so much."