Bridgestone Completes First F1 Slicks Test

The official tyre supplier to Formula One, Bridgestone, spent the last three days (17-19 November) on hand at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona. Twenty-two drivers participated in the three days of testing, producing sample data for the company’s new compound slick tyres, which will be used in the 2009 season, as well as running on the 2008 specification grooved tyres.

Dry conditions at the track meant that there was no need for Bridgestone’s wet, extreme wet or development single wet tyre; although the weather was cold, meaning that attaining and maintaining tyre temperature was a challenge for teams, particularly with the hard compound slick. Teams used visibly different packages, with development 2009 aerodynamic packages, interim and 2008 specification cars all in use. There was also some use of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) by certain teams.

Tetsuro Kobayashi, Bridgestone Motorsport’s technical manager took part in a Q&A session. He said that the tests had helped the company to build upon the data it had previously gathered: “The weather here in Barcelona has been quite cold so teams have found it difficult to warm up and maintain the heat in their tyres with the harder compound slick. We have gained a lot of data over the three days and we are still analysing it. This is not a completely straight-forward process as there were so many variations of car specification used here over the three days, with current cars, simulated 2009 downforce cars, and cars with early versions of the 2009 aerodynamic packages. Also, there were cars with KERS systems, which are still under development.

Kobayashi also talked about the challenges brought about by the change of tyre specifications: “The return to slick tyres in some ways makes things simpler, and the drivers in particular have welcomed their return. Our current slicks are very different from those we last used in Formula One in the 1997 season, and we have applied the lessons learnt from eleven seasons of working with grooved tyres and from our long experience of other categories of slick tyre.”

Bridgestone will take “two specifications of tyre to each race”, having worked to differentiate better between the harder and softer tyres, he continues. “The harder tyre of any given allocation should offer very good consistency, but not enable as good an initial lap time. The softer compound should offer a very good initial lap time, but will experience performance drop-off the more it is used. It is hoped that this should provide competitors with many challenges and strategy options to encourage exciting racing.” The company has, it is reported, not yet decided which tyres to allocate to which Grand Prix; a decision that will be made after the accumulation and analysis of more data.

Questioned about the possible effect upon tyres of the introduction of KERS, Kobayashi suggested that the system should not tip the balance in terms of rubber: “There should be no difference to overall tyre performance from the additional burst of power that the KERS systems are designed to provide. This is shown by the data we have seen from the systems that have been used so far.” He added that the introduction of the new technology embodies the spirit of the sport, in which technological innovation is key to its evolution and interest.

Bridgestone’s Potenza Formula One tyres will next been seen in use in Jerez on December 9-11, where eight teams are scheduled to test, and in Bahrain on December 10-12, where one team is scheduled to test.