Spanish GP: Bridgestone Friday notes

Tyres looking strong in sunny Spain

Bridgestone carried forward the momentum of its success in Imola two weeks ago with all its teams showing competitive performances in today's free practice sessions for the Spanish Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher led the times in the morning and remained on top after lunch with a best lap of 1:20.380. Close behind him was fellow German Heinz-Harald Frentzen with a 1:20.450 for OrangeArrows. His teammate Enrique Bernoldi was sixth, behind Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's Rubens Barrichello and Olivier Panis in the Lucky Strike BAR Honda. Also in the top ten for Bridgestone were Giancarlo Fisichella for DHL Jordan Honda and Felipe Massa in the Sauber Petronas.

Tyre Performance

All Bridgestone's teams tried both of the two specifications of tyre allowed.

Hisao Suganuma, technical manager of Bridgestone Motorsport:

"Judging by the lap times, today's performances look quite promising but we are never complacent. This is not an easy circuit in terms of the demands it puts on tyres. The track is one of the most abrasive and that, combined with the mid-high speed corners, makes it difficult."

The Tyre Choice

Bridgestone has brought one new specification to Spain, while the other was taken to a previous race this season. The `older' of the two tyres has been tested at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Hisao Suganuma said: "The lap times from both specifications are quite close so what we need to think about is degradation and the level of wear. This means some careful analysis of today's data so we can give our teams clear advice on which is the best tyre for them."

The Teams

Ross Brawn, technical director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:

"We did the race preparation we wanted to do with no problems and tried both specifications of tyre. The choice between the two tyres is not black and white so we will have to sit down and work out which is best. Clearly, the tyres are working very well here and I hope that situation continues for the race. As always on a Friday it is difficult to judge where our competitors are, but what I can say is that there are more Bridgestone runners at the front and it looks like the tyre performance is going to be strong here."

Mike Coughlan, technical director of OrangeArrows:

"We have always gone well here and we have a new front wing and some small upgrades this weekend that have helped us. We tried both tyres. There is very little difference between the two in terms of ultimate performance but one of them has much better grip over a longer run. We were very pleased with the tyres today."

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