Formula 1

Bridgestone looking forward to the challenge of new tyre regulations

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Today Bridgestone released their summary of findings from the Barcelona test. The 11 teams used all four of the company’s dry compounds throughout the four days, providing good data.

In the first race in Bahrain, the super soft and medium compounds will be used.

Hirohide Hamashima, the Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development relayed the findings to the press. He said that the new regulation narrow front tyre was working well, and that the tyres were suiting the new, heavier cars.

Hamashima was thankful for the dry weather in Barcelona, especially after the changeable conditions that the teams experienced in Jerez. If Valencia had been the only dry test, Bridgestone would have gone to Bahrain without sufficient data.

Bridgestone said that the dry tyres were performing in line with their predictions, although the super soft tyre was not suited to the Circuit de Catalunya.

Speaking about the coming season, Hamashima expects the teams will be attempting longer stints due to the refuelling ban. Bridgestone have modified the tyre constructions and compounds to accommodate the expected changes in pit strategy. The Japanese company will also have to account for the new ruling which states that teams qualifying in the top ten will have to start on the same tyres used in the Saturday session, and looks forward to seeing how this will work in practice during the first few races.

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David is an occasional contributer to the site on matters related to Formula 1. You can follow him on twitter at @Dr_Bean.
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