Bridgestone Softs Run Fast at Sepang

Bridgestone’s soft tyre proved faster at Sepang on the first day of the Malaysian Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen’s Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro set the day’s fastest lap time in the afternoon practice session held in hot but cloudy weather conditions, though AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg used the hard compound to go fastest in the morning. The hot and humid 5.54km Sepang circuit provided a challenge for competitors still mastering the 2009 specification cars and Bridgestone’s latest slick tyres and new tyre allocations. Today was the first time that Bridgestone’s hard compound tyre has been used by teams, and the first time a Bridgestone soft compound has been used at Malaysia.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone’s director of motorsport tyre development, said that the hard compound “worked very much as expected, in line with our predictions, so we are very pleased.” He explained that the tyre had been designed to “take longer to warm-up than the soft, but it looks to deliver good constant performance once in its temperature working range.”

In reference to the softer compound, he stated that the supplier “did not see the same level of drop off as we did in Australia with the super soft compound. Also, we did not see the same amount of graining as we did last weekend, which should make life easier in this respect for the drivers here. Sunday’s race does not start until 17:00 hrs, so we do not expect extreme heat like we have seen in Malaysia in the past, which should make life less difficult for the tyres.”