US GP: Bridgestone race notes

Bridgestone and Ferrari take sixth 1-2 finish of 2004!

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was buzzing with excitement this afternoon after one of the most eventful races of the year which saw Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro claim their sixth 1-2 finish of the year and Wilux Minardi Cosworth their first point of the season. The race was interrupted twice for Safety Car periods due to incidents but once racing resumed there was no stopping the Ferrari pair as they battled nose to tail at times for the race lead.

However, it was Michael Schumacher's audacious overtaking move on poleman and teammate Rubens Barrichello as the race restarted for the first time, that put the reigning champion in with a chance of taking his eighth win in nine races.

Schumacher now leads the championship with 80 points to Barrichello's 62 and Ferrari continues to head the Constructors' Championship with 142 points. It was a dream come true, meanwhile, for Hungary's Zsolt Baumgartner who finished in eighth place to take his first Grand Prix point for Minardi.

Unfortunately, it was not to be Jordan Ford's or Sauber Petronas' day but they can be expected to be back up to full strength when the FIA Formula One World Championship resumes at the French circuit of Magny-Cours in two weeks time.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director Bridgestone Motorsport:

"Naturally I am delighted for Ferrari today on their fantastic result but I would also like to congratulate Zsolt Baumgartner and the Wilux Minardi Cosworth team on taking their first point of the year. They have worked extremely hard all season and this must be very rewarding for them. Being a Japanese company, I would also like to congratulate Takuma Sato on his third place podium the first time a Japanese driver has finished on the podium in 14 years. Today's race, however, was extremely eventful and I would like to send our best wishes to Ralf Schumacher. We hope he is OK and back at the track as soon as possible."

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager Bridgestone Motorsport:

"What a fantastic 1-2 for Ferrari! This is their sixth 1-2 of the season but by no means an easy one from a tyre point of view. The Speedway is a very challenging track for a tyre manufacturer so I was pleased to see the way our tyres performed in these conditions and in the heat. It was marginal but being able to support Ferrari in their two-stop strategy was very satisfying."

"It was also great to see Minardi take their first point of 2004. This was down to their endless efforts and I am very happy for them and Zsolt [Baumgartner]. It was, however, a little disappointing not to see more Bridgestone runners finish the race this afternoon due to a number of circumstances but we expect to see everyone back up to speed upon our return to Europe."

Ross Brawn, Technical Director Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:

"The Bridgestone tyres were very good today. We had to run some quite high fuel loads because of the way the race worked out and there were times when we had a lot of fuel in the cars which meant we had to nurse the tyres a little bit but really they were perfect. The important thing was that they gave us a qualifying performance when we needed it and then held up well in the race they were fantastic."

-bridegstone-