Bridgestone 2006 European Grand Prix Preview

Four of Bridgestone's five teams have been busy testing recently ahead of the next round of the FIA Formula One World Championship at the Nürburgring. After Michael Schumacher's win for Ferrari at Imola recently, Bridgestone and its teams have been keen to keep up the winning momentum. However, the European Grand Prix is taking place several weeks earlier this year than in 2005 and the race is expected to provide the teams and tyre manufacturers with a tough challenge and the potential for a wide range of climate conditions. As a result, Ferrari has been testing at Fiorano and Paul Ricard, with Toyota also joining them at the French circuit. Williams and MF1 Racing concentrated on running at Silverstone.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport, said: "The European Grand Prix is a key race for Bridgestone and our teams. So far this season they have accumulated between them two pole positions, a second place, a third place and a win and we are determined to give our teams, who have considerable support in Germany, the best tyres for the job. This is a home race for Toyota, Michael and Ralf Schumacher and Nico Rosberg and we are looking forward to seeing them race hard in front of their fans."

Tyres for Nürburgring - 5.148km
The 2006 tyre regulations permit each driver seven sets of dry tyres, four sets of wet weather tyres and three sets of extreme wet weather tyres. Combined with the increased number of teams running with Bridgestone in 2006, approximately 1,200 Bridgestone Potenza Formula One tyres have been sent from the Technical Centre in Kodaira City, Tokyo, to the Nürburgring.

Nürburgring Preview with Hisao Suganuma
Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager, said: "After the win at Imola it is important that we keep pushing forward with developments for our teams. Recent tests at Paul Ricard and Fiorano have been particularly helpful for the forthcoming race, especially as we had wet conditions on some days. The European Grand Prix is earlier in the season than normal and its mountainous climate could mean cool, as well as wet, weather. We have therefore taken this into account when deciding the specification of wet tyre for this race. The Paul Ricard test also allowed us to further our dry tyre comparisons of compounds and constructions.

The success of the Bridgestone tyres at the San Marino GP recently played a large influence when making the decisions for the dry tyre specifications for the Nürburgring round. The compounds come from the softer side of our range due to the track's relatively smooth surface and expected cooler weather conditions. Grip in the first set of corners will be especially important. With the uncertainty over the weather we shall also need our tyres to perform in a relatively wide working range."