Bridgestone satisfied with Australian weekend

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) won the ING Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. Raikkonen led the race for 52 of the 58 lap race which was run under blue skies at Albert Park.

Second placed Fernando Alonso and third placed Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) both had spells at the head of the field in the race which saw seventeen classified finishers. It was Hamilton’s F1 race debut and the reigning GP2 Series champion overtook and led his two-time Formula One world champion team-mate in the early part of the race.

Nick Heidfeld finished fourth for BMW Sauber, ahead of Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) started from the back of the grid after an engine and gearbox change and employed a one pitstop strategy to work through the field to finish in sixth position.

Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) finished in seventh with Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) taking the final championship point. The weekend’s fastest lap was set by Raikkonen on lap 41 of the race.

Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations “I am very satisfied with the outcome we have seen in this first race of the season. Both specifications of tyres performed as our simulations predicted; the medium compound was very consistent and the soft compound was more of a challenge for the teams. Despite the large quantity of tyres used this weekend, we did not experience any tyre problems. Scott Speed (Toro Rosso) did suffer from falling pressure in his front tyres. From our and the team’s investigations we found these to be from air leakage which was not related to the tyres. For Bridgestone Motorsport there was the new dimension this weekend of supplying tyres to all of the grid. We fitted more than 1800 tyres this weekend for which we had to increase our staff. Everybody worked very hard, but in good Japanese tradition there is always room to improve. We have an even better idea what to do for the future and I look forward to the next tough challenge in Sepang.”

Tyre Choice by Stint:

ING Renault F1 Team
Giancarlo Fisichella Medium – Medium – Soft Heikki Kovalainen Medium – Medium – Soft

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Felipe Massa Soft – Medium Kimi Raikkonen Medium – Medium – Soft

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Fernando Alonso Medium – Medium – Soft Lewis Hamilton Medium – Medium – Soft

Honda Racing F1 Team Jenson Button Medium – Soft – Medium Rubens Barrichello Soft – Medium - Medium

BMW Sauber F1 Team Nick Heidfeld Soft – Medium – Medium Robert Kubica Medium – Medium

Panasonic Toyota Racing Ralf Schumacher Medium – Medium – Soft Jarno Trulli Medium – Medium – Soft

Red Bull Racing David Coulthard Medium – Medium – Soft Mark Webber Medium – Medium – Soft

AT&T Williams Team Nico Rosberg Medium – Medium – Soft Alex Wurz Medium – Soft

Scuderia Toro Rosso Vitantonio Liuzzi Medium – Medium – Soft Scott Speed Medium – Medium

Spyker F1 Team Christijan Albers Medium Adrian Sutil Medium – Medium – Soft

Super Aguri F1 Team Takuma Sato Medium – Medium – Soft Anthony Davidson Medium – Medium – Soft