Bridgestone hungry for Hockenheim repeat.
Whilst Bridgestone Motorsport has its feet planted firmly on the ground, the success of its teams at the British Grand Prix after a week of testing has left Bridgestone eager to move on to round twelve of the world championship.
The German GP last year saw the then recently crowned world champion Michael Schumacher convert pole position into a classic win in his Bridgestone equipped F2002 but, this year, both Ferrari and its star driver know that each race is more important as the battle for their respective competitions continue to be closely fought.
Whilst Bridgestone Motorsport has its feet planted firmly on the ground, the success of its teams at the British Grand Prix after a week of testing has left Bridgestone eager to move on to round twelve of the world championship.
The German GP last year saw the then recently crowned world champion Michael Schumacher convert pole position into a classic win in his Bridgestone equipped F2002 but, this year, both Ferrari and its star driver know that each race is more important as the battle for their respective competitions continue to be closely fought.
"Silverstone was a genuine reflection of the hard work and effort everyone at Bridgestone and in our teams have been putting in recently - but, as we said, that was just the first phase and there is still much work to do," confirmed Bridgestone's director of motorsport, Hiroshi Yasukawa, "We won at Hockenheim last year with Michael, but it is a demanding circuit and it will be a real test of our progress so far."
Formerly a high-speed circuit requiring tyres from the harder end of Bridgestone's range, the restyled and slower 4.574km Hockenheim means that, for the second year, softer compounds will be seen at the German Grand Prix. Bridgestone will be taking approximately 1400 tyres to Germany comprising of eight different dry weather specifications, reflecting the choices of the company's five teams.
"Hockenheim was modified prior to last year's GP, and one of the most significant aspects of those changes was the consequent reduction in average speeds," commented technical manager Hisao Suganuma, "Very little data was available last year because of those changes, but we now know from last year's race that the circuit is still hard from a heat durability point of view.
"To be as competitive as possible, we shall be bringing tyres from the mid-soft range. But, heat durability is an important factor at Hockenheim as cars can keep relatively high speeds in several corners, generating significant heat in the tyres. Strategy-wise in previous years, we've seen two stops from the top teams, but I suspect we may see different strategies this year.
"For sure, it's going to be a tough race, but we gave Ferrari winning tyres last year with very little data available, so I'm confident that, with a year's experience and the recent lessons we've learnt, we'll be strong in Germany."
