Brazilian GP: Bridgestone race notes

Fisi flies the flag for Bridgestone

Giancarlo Fisichella flew the Bridgestone flag today in a thrilling but incident packed race giving the Jordan Ford driver a well deserved second place podium. The experienced Italian, who also took a second place finish at Sao Paulo in 2000, narrowly missed out on a win after the race was red flagged following two crashes involving Mark Webber and third placed finisher Fernando Alonso. As Fisichella's Bridgestone wet tyres came into their optimum performance range, Fisichella did in fact overtake race leader Kimi Raikkonen. However with the race stopped, results were declared as of lap 53.

Next up for Bridgestone were Sauber Petronas driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen in fifth place and Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda driver Jacques Villeneuve in sixth. Both drove superbly in the difficult wet conditions. Unfortunately for Ferrari, however, neither of their drivers finished the race. Michael Schumacher spun off at the same corner that claimed four other drivers and local hero and one time race leader Rubens Barrichello pulled over on lap 47. The Brazilian had previously set the fastest lap of the race (1:22.032).

Hisao Suganuma - Technical Manager - Bridgestone Motorsport

"We believe today's real winner was Giancarlo Fisichella - he drove superbly in very difficult conditions. Although not at their best at the beginning of the race due to the amount of water on track, our tyres did well in the tough conditions. It was quite evident though, that as soon as water levels dropped slightly, the Bridgestone cars were really able to push whilst our rivals began to struggle."

"Rubens set the fastest lap of the race on lap 46 demonstrating the strength of our tyre's performance. With the ability of our wet tyres to connect to the drier side of conditions, I think it gave the Bridgestone runners the advantage over our rivals, giving us the better overall performance. Frentzen and Villeneuve also benefited from this and they deserve a mention for their impressive performances today. There were many incidents today and we hope all those drivers involved are OK."

Gary Anderson - Technical Manager - Jordan Ford

"The tyres lasted well today and Giancarlo was quite quick at the end there as he came into Bridgestone territory. He was quick enough even to pass Raikkonen. Unfortunately we could have done with one lap more. But I'll take second!"

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