US GP: Bridgestone Friday practice notes

Bridgestone runners getting to grip with Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Grand Prix got off to a busy start today with Bridgestone Motorsport's three teams (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, Jordan Grand Prix and Minardi F1) making the most of the two, one-hour long sessions. The oval section of the 4.192km Indianapolis GP circuit has been resurfaced since last year, needing careful assessment by Bridgestone and its teams. After their double podium success in Canada, the Ferrari drivers finished the first session in 10th and 11th positions respectively before going on to finish the red-flag interrupted second session in third and fourth places.

Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager, said: "Our teams spent the sessions assessing both their specifications and certainly for Ferrari, it seems both types of tyres are performing well. Lap times are quite competitive and we have not suffered with any problems. The softer tyre gives a little better lap time but we need as usual to check the wear and blister results for all the tyres. I think the Bridgestone shod cars should run well this weekend but it is important to be vigilant here about tyre pressures."

The Teams

Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, said: "A trouble free practice session and we seem to have made some progress between the first and second sessions. I think we did all the work we wanted to do and we had a nice tyre comparison. We need to study the data but we know which tyre we would like to use. We've got to check tonight what the wear projections are for Sunday but the softer tyre looks quicker and still very consistent."

<pre> Temperatures Ambient Track Weather AM Practice 24-23-24C 34-35-34C Sunny-Scattered cloud PM Practice 24-23C 37-32C Scattered cloud cloudy

-bridgestone-