Bridgestone Takes Super Soft, Medium Potenzas to Brazilian GP

Bridgestone has announced that it will continue its policy of taking two tyre options with a wider compound stiffness gap to the penultimate Grand Prix of the Formula One season. Sao Paulo’s undulating anti-clockwise Interlagos circuit will see super soft and medium compound Potenza slicks used between 16 and 18 October. The combination has been seen previously this year in Australia, China, Bahrain and Germany.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone director of Motorsport Tyre Development, is looking forward to the weekend and the challenges the circuit has to offer: “The first corner comes at the end of a long straight, and it goes downhill, meaning that finding the correct braking point is difficult. We expect to see some overtaking and brake locking here, and this could damage the tyres. The circuit surface often starts very dirty and we see a lot of improvement over the weekend. As we saw last year, the weather can also be a very big challenge.

“Interlagos is a circuit where high grip is a priority. We have the stiffness gap in our allocation, so teams will have to work out the best set-ups for both tyres, and there should be many strategy considerations and possibilities. Traditionally we would see a lot of graining here, due to the initially dirty surface and the twisty infield section, however this will be less of a factor this season, due to slick tyres being more resistant to graining relative to the grooved tyres we used before.”