Spanish GP: Bridgestone race notes

Ferrari 1-2 and points for Sauber see Bridgestone Potenza runners blitz Spanish GP

Michael Schumacher's Spanish GP victory marks 84 wins by a Potenza equipped driver, boosting Bridgestone's place in Formula One history in just eight years to second most successful tyre company.

Bridgestone's Potenza Formula One tyres, fuel tactics and pit stop strategies have given Bridgestone Motorsport its most successful grand prix of 2004 so far. Not only did the Bridgestone-shod Michael Schumacher, on a three-stop strategy, claim his fifth consecutive win of the season at his 200 grand prix, but he was closely followed by teammate Rubens Barrichello, who was on an unusual two-stop strategy, to give Bridgestone and the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team their third 1-2 of the season.

The ability to run two or three stop strategies on Bridgestone's tyres was crucial today. Furthermore, Schumacher was the fastest man of the race setting a lap time of 1m17.450 seconds on lap 12. Like Schumacher and Barrichello, the two Sauber Petronas drivers also made full use of their consistently fast Potenzas with Giancarlo Fisichella crossing the line in seventh place, giving the Italian driver two points.

Felipe Massa was unlucky not to score a point but his ninth place finish showed a sign of things to come from the Swiss based team. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro now lead the Constructors' Championship with 82 points, while Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello continue to head the Drivers' Championship with 50 and 32 points respectively.

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager Bridgestone Motorsport:

"I'm delighted with today's result which was the 84 win by a Bridgestone driver and the third Ferrari- Bridgestone 1-2 of the season. Our tyres worked extremely well for our teams this afternoon. They were consistent, fast and enabled the Ferrari drivers to pull out a significant gap ahead of their rivals. And this was true of Sauber too. They took a different strategy and the consistent tyre performance assisted their race performance. Rubens' two stop strategy, in particular, worked very well because our tyre degradation is small in comparison to our rival's."

Ross Brawn Technical Director Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:

"We did have a problem with Michael's car today so I am thankful he finished! Rubens drove a fantastic race this afternoon. We didn't want to give the game away yesterday after qualifying but he was scheduled to do a two stop strategy and it worked out very well."

Rubens Barrichello Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:

"Bridgestone has done a phenomenal job!"

Willy Rampf Technical Director Sauber Petronas:

"It was an unusual pitstop strategy today because when we did our race preparation we saw that the pace was very consistent. We benefited from good race pace [today]. The Bridgestone tyres were very consistent which was pleasing given the heavy fuel [load] and Felipe put in some good lap times. Overall our strategy worked perfectly and to do this we needed consistent tyres and the predictions were exactly what Bridgestone evaluated on Friday."

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