Monaco GP Bridgestone Preview

05 /MAY /1999

1999 MONACO GRAND PRIX - PREVIEW

MONACO: HARD ON MISTAKES, SOFT ON TYRES

For the fourth round of the 1999 FIA World Championship attention turns to Monaco, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the sport's most famous race through the streets. It was in 1929 that the Anglo-French driver "Williams" took nearly four hours to cover the 100 laps at an average speed of 80.194 km/h (49.83 mph).

With some of the tightest hairpins and shortest straights to be found on the F1 schedule, Monaco's average speed of 141.458km/h (87.898mph) was as usual the lowest of any in 1998. Nevertheless, its tortuous 3.367kms (2.084 miles) are also the most unforgiving to cars and drivers.

"From Bridgestone's point of view, the street circuit character of the course and the smooth surface make Monaco very kind to tyres," says Yoshihiko Ichikawa, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport.

"Because of the slow speeds, aerodynamic loads are low, despite the high downforce wings normally brought out for this one race," Ichikawa continues, "and this means that the teams will be seeking to find as much mechanical grip from their cars as they possibly can."

For the first time this year Bridgestone will offer the F1 teams its Extra Soft compound as an alternative to the Soft option.

"In testing we have established that the Extra Soft has a tendency to generate more understeer in the handling characteristics of the cars," says Ichikawa. "In addition to taking wear characteristics into consideration, this means that the teams' choice of compound will depend on their ability to dial out the understeer in case they wish to choose the Extra Soft compound."

Bridgestone will bring 2640 tyres to Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix. They will be divided between the two specs of dry tyre and two choices of wet tyre.