German GP: Bridgestone Friday practice notes

Bridgestone gears up for German Grand Prix

Bridgestone's teams were busy at work today at an unusually cool Hockenheim circuit ahead of Sunday's German Grand Prix. Ferrari's drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello ranh both their specifications in the first session setting the sixth and seventh fastest times. They were tenth and 16t at the end of the second session on used tyres.

There were changes, meanwhile, at both Jordan Grand Prix and the Minardi F1 team. Robert Doornbos, previously Jordan's Friday test driver has moved to Minardi, replacing Patrick Friesacher as a race driver alongside fellow Dutchman Christijan Albers. He settled in quickly and will be looking to impress this weekend.

Nicolas Kiesa subsequently took over Jordan's Friday driving duties evaluating the team's two choices of Bridgestone tyres. The weather forecast for Hockenheim looks mixed for the forthcoming days suggesting it could well be a big factor this weekend.

Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager:

"The track was quite green this morning which resulted in some graining. Conditions did improve during the afternoon and fortunately it stayed dry, enabling all three teams to evaluate their two specifications. Preliminary results show that the softer specs are obviously producing faster lap times but they are also graining a little more than the harder specs."

"However, with the correct car set-up adjustments I think the teams should be able to overcome this. From a wear point of view, Hockenheim can be tough but at the moment it looks like all the Bridgestone specifications would be suitable for the race this weekend."

"However, we will be making a further in depth analysis to check this and will later make our final recommendations to the teams. Conditions were cooler in comparison to previous years at Hockenheim but this has not been a problem for our teams."

Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:

"Because we were a little fearful of the weather we ran the new tyres this morning so I don't think the second session reflects our fastest lap because we ran used tyres in the second session."

"We have a new compound here which looks quite promising but we shall have to check the wear figures and projections to see if we can use it. If we can, I think we can have a good race. At the moment we don't look like the fastest car out there but the longer runs were quite encouraging for a good race on Sunday."

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