Bridgestone Considers Greater Choice for F1 Teams

In the wake of the shelving of Formula One’s proposal to prohibit the use of tyre-warming blankets, Bridgestone – the sport’s tyre provider – is considering the possibility of a new approach, offering the teams a wider difference in terms of the compounds available. At each Grand Prix, Bridgestone is required to supply two different compounds, both of which each team is obliged to use for racing.

At present, teams and drivers complain that the compounds are too similar, leading to too little differentiation. Bridgestone’s proposed changes would mean that the tyres available, instead of being a mere one place apart – for example: very soft and soft – would vary more – such as with soft and hard.

Current rules require the teams to use both the compounds provided for them and the challenge in providing tyres of greater difference would be not to obliterate the current subtle differences in teams’ tyre strategies. If the two tyre compounds available are too different, any given set of racing conditions will favour one tyre a long way ahead of the other, leading to all teams adopting the same tyre strategy.