French GP: Bridgestone preview

Bridgestone looking to maintain momentum

Bridgestone Motorsport heads to Round Ten of the FIA Formula One World Championship, to be held at the French Magny-Cours circuit this weekend (July 1-3), with an air of determination. After the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis ten days ago, which resulted in a six car race, Bridgestone is looking forward to seeing its teams compete against a full field of cars.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello finished in first and third places at Magny-Cours last year and will be looking to repeat those results as they get their 2005 drivers' and constructors' championship challenges back on track. The 4.411km circuit is notorious for its slow corners, however, and they should expect a strong fight from their opponents.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport:

"It will be good to get to France this weekend and, for the sake of the sport and the fans, have a great race. From our point of view, Bridgestone and its teams had a successful trip across the Atlantic but we do need to maintain our momentum and keep the results coming now that we have returned to Europe. Our technical personnel have been busy both on and off track working on our latest developments and I look forward to seeing their efforts in action this weekend."

Tyres for Magny-Cours
Bridgestone Motorsport's Potenza Formula One tyres are arriving in Magny-Cours in preparation for this weekend's French Grand Prix. 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:

"Magny-Cours is a challenging circuit with several slow speed corners requiring good rear traction. The grip performance of our tyres will therefore be very important this weekend and we have chosen tyres from our medium to soft compound range. The key for the drivers will be to keep their speeds up through the slow corners such as the Adelaide Hairpin and chicane."

"The nature of the dark Magny-Cours tarmac, however, means that while we want medium to soft compound tyres, they need to have good heat durability because if it is sunny, we could experience track temperatures of approximately 50 degrees Celcius. We also need to be vigilant about rear tyre degradation."

"Because of these factors, we have been working hard with our teams on new compounds to increase levels of grip and after encouraging test results in Barcelona recently, we look forward to seeing the latest compound developments in action at Magny-Cours this weekend."

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