Hungarian GP Bridgestone Preview

Budapest, August/ 04/ 1999

1999 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX - PREVIEW

MAXIMISING GRIP WILL BE THE KEY

From high-speed Hockenheim (1999 average: 224.723 km/h) to the low-speed Hungaroring (1998 average: 174.062 km/h), Formula 1 will see a significant change of pace at the Hungarian Grand Prix, round 11 of the FIA Drivers' and Constructors' 1999 world championships.

"The Hungaroring is slow, sinuous and low on grip, especially on Friday when there always seems to be a lot of surface dirt to be cleaned away by the cars," says Yoshihiko Ichikawa, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport. "These characteristics mean that we feel confident in offering the teams a choice of our Soft and Extra Soft compounds."

"This is only the second time this year we have brought the Extra Soft to a race (the first was at Monaco) and we expect that all the teams will want to try it on Friday. But despite its low grip, the surface at the Hungaroring is quite abrasive and the temperatures are expected to be high, which means reasonable degradation should be expected by those teams which have not found a good mechanical setup and effective aerodynamic settings."

Strategy may yet again play an even more important role in Hungary than it does at some other circuits. It was here last year that Michael Schumacher shocked his rivals with a memorable run to victory which included no fewer than three pit stops along the way.

"As always, we anticipate that there will be a tendency for the cars to understeer when they are running on extra-soft compound," says Ichikawa, "and they will have to provide for this when making their setups. It should also be mentioned that especially with the Extra Soft compound we expect to see some degradation in the rear tyres."