BRIDGESTONE in Grand Prix JAPAN

BRIDGESTONE promotes mobility mensage thouah Formule One

Bridgestone launches Make Cars Green tyre08/10/2008
Formula One will show its support for the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign by running on specially prepared green-grooved tyres at the Japanese Grand Prix.Bridgestone, the global partner for the FIA’s campaign, launched the Make Cars Green tyre at a ceremony in Tokyo today, with support from Formula One teams McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari, as well as their drivers Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen, Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen.The initiative demonstrates that Formula One’s teams and partners are backing the Make Cars Green campaign’s goal to reduce the impact of motoring on the environment. The connections between greener motoring and Formula One will be further strengthened next year with the introduction of energy regenerating hybrid devices, one of a number of initiatives in the sport that will be increasingly relevant to the car industry and help accelerate the use of fuel-efficient technology on public roads.

Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, said:
What challenges does Fuji present?
"The major feature of Fuji is the very long straight, and this straight goes into a slow corner which will mean some interesting overtaking opportunities. There are only two high speed corners, with the 100R and 300R. We will see dry set-ups with low downforce configurations. The surface is quite smooth, so I do not expect problems with wear. As we saw last year, the biggest challenge could be the weather and I will certainly be bringing wet weather clothing."
Are you confident in Bridgestone's tyre choice if the weather is dry?
"We have learnt a lot from racing in other racing categories at Fuji, such as Formula Nippon and Super GT, over the years and it is from this knowledge that we chose the Formula One tyre position of the medium and soft tyres from our range. Of course, last season we did not see too much dry running, but we know that the 100R corner will be a challenge for graining on the left front tyre. However, if competitors manage this well we are confident of a strong performance from our tyres."