Abu Dhabi GP: Bridgestone qualifying report

Bridgestone Motorsport's Saturday Update

Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) has used Bridgestone's medium compound Potenza tyre to blast to the first ever pole position at the dramatic Yas Marina circuit for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton set a time of 1min 40.948secs and will start tomorrow's race alongside Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel. The earlier practice session saw Brawn GP Formula 1 Team driver Jenson Button set the fastest time, also using the medium compound.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today's running?

"Today was about further learning the track and it still has a few tricks. We were treated to an exciting qualifying session and one where our harder tyre proved to be the quickest for pole position. Lewis Hamilton did a great job, particularly with his 1min 39.695secs time on the medium in Q2. Track conditions continue to improve so tomorrow's race should be fascinating on many levels."

What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow's race?

"Our information shows that neither tyre suffers particularly from degradation or wear. The medium tyre is very well suited to this track. It has good grip and its performance is consistent, meaning that lap times should fall as the cars get lighter. Based on the information so far the major race tyre strategy consideration will be minimising use of the soft. However, as the track is still improving so we could see better performance from the soft tomorrow."

-credit: bridgestone