Bridgestone previews last GP of 2005

Bridgestone arrived in China, determined to impress this weekend. Each of its teams have a point to prove: Ferrari secured third place in the Constructors’ Championship at the previous round in Japan but Michael Schumacher still has a battle on his hands for third place in the Drivers’ Championship. For Rubens Barrichello, Shanghai marks the end of a hugely successful era as the Brazilian soon leaves the Scuderia.

And for the Jordan Grand Prix and Minardi F1 teams, Shanghai signifies the final time they will run under their current names. China is also an extremely important market for Bridgestone with considerable investment, such as the new Proving Ground in Yixing, being planned to help meet the demands of the industry

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport “The Chinese Grand Prix marks the end of what has been a fantastically exciting but challenging season. For Bridgestone and its teams 2005 has been somewhat f a rollercoaster ride and although we have been unable to react as strongly as we had hoped, I believe we have come through this year with a determination which will motivate us strongly through the coming winter period. However, we still have one more important race yet at Shanghai’s very impressive circuit. Our technical team has continued to push forward with developments in recent weeks and I look forward to seeing our teams finish the season on a high note.”

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager “Shanghai is a great place to finish the season. It is a technically challenging circuit while providing a great backdrop for the season finale. The track itself has a very smooth surface, which, combined with the long straights, results in cars reaching very high speeds. Shanghai also has several slow speed corners so from a tyre point of view drivers will be looking for good grip to cope with the smooth surface and grip to provide traction out of the corners. To meet these requirements we have provided tyres from the medium to soft compound range and with good durable construction qualities.
Shanghai’s unique characteristics and track layout may result in some graining and subsequent understeer so once the track conditions have stabilised, the teams will need to set up the cars to cure the understeer so that they can achieve a competitive lap time. We have brought a combination of previously raced specs and some un-raced specs here this weekend which were developed at the Paul Ricard test approximately two weeks ago and we are looking forward to seeing all our teams have a competitive final race of the season.”