Bridgestone encouraged after US GP Friday practice

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's Michael Schumacher set the pace today for the Bridgestone shod runners with a time of 1m12.458s in the first of the day's two, one-hour long practice sessions. Conditions were warm and sunny in the first session but the teams did have to contend with a green track.

However, by the end of the second session track conditions had improved and the teams were able to concentrate on getting to work on their tyre selections and car set-ups before the rain set in shortly after the end of the afternoon session. Four Bridgestone runners, including two MF1 Racing drivers, finished the day's second session in the top seven. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a unique Formula One track with the 4.192km part oval, part road track, making it a challenge for the teams and tyre manufacturers alike.

Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager, said: "We had a green track this morning, as expected, but conditions improved through the day with more running. Some of the drivers did experience graining and some understeer because of these conditions but as more rubber was laid down the graining reduced. We believe that by Sunday afternoon it shouldn't be a big problem. On the tyre performance side we saw some encouraging lap times today from the Bridgestone runners. In the second practice we had four Bridgestone shod drivers in the top seven.

Alex Wurz did two very good long runs, evaluating the strength, consistency and durability of the tyres. The task now is to make our customary thorough tyre wear checks and to evaluate the data. Tyre strength and durability is very important here as the tyres experience very high loads and high lateral forces and we are pleased to say that we have seen nothing to concern us up to this point. All in all, a positive start to the weekend."