Japanese GP: Bridgestone Saturday Update

Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari set the fastest time on a day of limited track running due to wet weather conditions at Suzuka leading to a delayed and then postponed qualifying session.

Alguersuari completed nine laps on track in the morning practice session, whilst Virgin Racing driver Timo Glock was the only other driver to complete a timed lap on the rain lashed circuit. Qualifying is now scheduled to take place at 10:00 hrs local time on Sunday ahead of a 15:00 hrs race start.


Hiroshi Yasukawa -Director of Bridgestone Motorsport says:
"I would like to thank all the fans who came to Suzuka today despite the very wet weather conditions. Even despite the weather many people enjoyed our activities on the Bridgestone stage in the fan zone where many drivers made appearances. We hope that everyone is rewarded with a full and exciting day of qualifying and race action tomorrow."

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today's running?
"There was very little track action due to the extreme weather with continual heavy rain throughout the afternoon. We saw some very limited running in the morning however qualifying was first delayed and then postponed due to the amount of water on track. Every driver did complete at least an installation lap, and all reported aquaplaning due to the number of deep puddles and amount of water streaming across the track. The decision to postpone qualifying was the correct one as it was too wet, even for our wet weather Formula 1 tyre."

What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow's race?
"We will have to look to the skies. If there is no rain we will face a clean track from the rain, but without the benefit of laid rubber so it will be an evolving track surface. If there is rain I hope it will not be as hard as today. Our wet tyre can displace 61 litres per second of water when fitted to an F1 car travelling at 300kph, but this afternoon there was too much water even for these tyres.""

Stats of the Day 
Practice Three 10:00 - 11:00
Driver             Team                 Time        Tyre
Jaime Alguersuari  Scuderia Toro Rosso 	1m 55.902s  W
Timo Glock 	   Virgin Racing 	2m 07.497s  W

Qualifying - postponed to 10:00 hrs Sunday

Compounds used: Wet

Temperatures 	 Ambient     Track	 Weather
AM - Practice 3  20C 	     21C 	 Drizzle / rain
PM - Qualifying  19C 	     19C 	 Heavy rain