British GP: Bridgestone preview

Bridgestone looking to impress at British GP

Bridgestone Motorsport heads just a short trip up country from its Langley headquarters this week for round eleven of the FIA Formula One World Championship, the first of Bridgestone's two "home" races. After two successful North American races in June, last weekend's French Grand Prix did not fully fulfil its early potential, something Bridgestone and its teams are hoping to change at this weekend's British Grand Prix.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello finished first and third in 2004 and having now passed the half way mark in the 19-race championship, they will be fighting for maximum points this weekend a track where Bridgestone and Ferrari traditionally go well. The British Grand Prix is also a home race for fellow Bridgestone team, Jordan Grand Prix so they too will be pushing hard to give their loyal supporters something to cheer about.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport:

"With our F1 headquarters based in Langley, UK, the British Grand Prix is one of two home races for Bridgestone Motorsport and we shall be looking for a good result. The car-tyre packages of all our teams, Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi, are getting stronger with each race and Ferrari in particular should be strong at Silverstone this weekend. Their qualifying and first lap performance has improved significantly and they tend to run well on high speed circuits."

"I am also looking forward to seeing GP2 run at Silverstone. With drivers from no fewer than 16 countries, we have seen some thrilling, wheel-to-wheel action over the past few races and I am hoping that we shall see at least one of them graduate to Formula One next year."

Tyres for Silverstone

Bridgestone Motorsport's Potenza Formula One tyres will arrive at Silverstone by truck from its UK headquarters in Langley, Slough. Produced at Bridgestone's Tokyo production facility, they comprise of two grooved dry weather specifications per Bridgestone team and the same wet and extreme wet weather specification for all three Bridgestone teams.

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager:

"The Silverstone Grand Prix circuit is a challenging circuit with both high and very low speed sections. A good lap time, however, comes from the high speed part of the track and the stability of the tyres at Silverstone will be important for car handling. The track surface is quite abrasive which means we may see high tyre wear and because there are several high speed corners, tyres have been chosen from the medium to hard end of the compound range."

"We are expecting to be competitive at Silverstone having tested there a few weeks ago and got some good indications of which tyres to choose. Of course at Silverstone, the weather can be a bit of a lottery and we could have anything from 35 degrees on track, if sunny, to cool and wet weather. Whatever the weather though, we'll be ready!"

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