High hopes for Bridgestone teams at Silverstone

Bridgestone Motorsport has high aspirations for its five teams at this weekend’s British Grand Prix, round eight of the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship. While points were few and far between at the previous round in Monaco, the Bridgestone teams did nevertheless show their considerable potential and after an encouraging three-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain last week for three of the teams (Ferrari, Williams and Toyota), Bridgestone has podium aspirations for this weekend.

Silverstone is a tough circuit for tyres so considerable effort has been put into getting the right tyre construction and compound combinations. Furthermore, there should be plenty of support for Bridgestone this weekend because in addition to being a home race for Bridgestone Motorsport, which has its base in Langley, Berkshire, the 60-lap event is also a home race for the WilliamsF1, MF1 Racing and Super Aguri F1 Teams.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport, said: “The British Grand Prix is one of two “home” races for Bridgestone. Our Potenza Formula One tyres are designed and manufactured in Japan but the hub of our F1 operations remains in Berkshire, near Heathrow, and we are therefore keen to impress at Silverstone this weekend. Three of our teams are based in the UK so as well as boosting their championship points standings, some good results this weekend would be very popular. After the recent Monaco Grand Prix where the Bridgestone shod teams were unable to capitalise on their new soft specification Bridgestone tyres, we are definitely hoping for a more rewarding weekend.”

Tyres for Silverstone – 5.141 km
The 2006 tyre regulations permit each driver seven sets of dry tyres, four sets of wet weather tyres and three sets of extreme wet weather tyres. Combined with the increased number of teams running with Bridgestone in 2006, approximately 1,200 Bridgestone Potenza Formula One tyres are being sent from the Technical Centre in Kodaira City, Tokyo, to Silverstone.

Silverstone Preview with Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager, said: “The Silverstone Grand Prix is one of the toughest races from a tyre point of view. The circuit’s high speed corners and directional changes require good rear tyre stability and the abrasive surface means that we have to bring tyres from the medium to hard compound range. We will need to keep a careful watch on the weather though. It has been warm recently in the UK and although it looks as if the early part of the weekend will be hot, you can never guarantee the weather here - especially when the race is taking place a month earlier than normal. However, we had a very productive test in Spain last week and looking at the results of the three Bridgestone shod teams who were running there, we have been encouraged to think that the chosen specifications for our five teams this coming weekend, some of which have not previously been raced before, will be competitive.”