Bridgestone happy with tyre performance at Monza

Fernando Alonso (McLaren Mercedes) has taken his fourth win of the season, and fourth in his career on Bridgestone Potenza tyres, after a dominant weekend from McLaren Mercedes and the reigning world champion in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Alonso used a medium-medium-soft tyre strategy to win, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton finishing six seconds behind on the same strategy. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) finished third after he employed a one-stop strategy, making a strong start on the soft compound Bridgestone and finishing on the medium, 21 seconds behind Hamilton.

BMW Sauber team-mates Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica finished fourth and fifth, Nico Rosberg (Williams) finished sixth, Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) finished seventh and Jenson Button (Honda) took the final championship point. Twelve of the classified finishers used a one-stop strategy, with a two-stop strategy used by eight cars. Two cars failed to finish. The fastest race lap, a 1min 22.871secs, was set by Alonso on lap 15 on the medium compound Bridgestone Potenza.

Hamilton stays in the lead of the drivers’ championship with 92 points, three points ahead of Alonso on 89. Raikkonen moves into third place with 74 points. McLaren Mercedes lead the constructors’ championship 166 points to Ferrari’s 143. BMW Sauber are in third place with 86 points.

Bridgestone Potenza Formula One tyres will next be in race action at the ING Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps on September 14-16 where Bridgestone’s medium and soft compound Potenza tyres will once more be used.

Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations said: “The tyres performed well, even with the track temperatures and the pace seen from the two McLaren Mercedes. The vast majority of cars did a one stop strategy and they did not sustain any tyre problems despite the longer stints this requires. The track certainly came towards our compound choice. Blistering was not an issue, to the contrary to what we saw in practice on Friday afternoon. There was very little to choose between the two compounds in the race in terms of wear and heat resistance. ”