Bridgestone Finalises Final Four F1 GP Compound Allocations

With the Formula One Drivers and Constructors Championships still very much in the balance and competition at a premium, a margin such as the tyre compounds available could be a factor in deciding the eventual winner. Bridgestone has announced its last four allocations before it hands sole tyre supply over to Pirelli in 2011, from the Japanese Grand Prix on 10 October to the season-closer at Abu Dhabi on 14 November. A gap of one step between compounds features for each of the Grands Prix. The first-ever Korean Grand Prix will feature the hard and soft compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone head of Motorsport Tyre Development, says: “The most interesting question for these final allocations is which tyres will we bring to Korea? As always for a new race we work closely with the FIA, the circuit and the teams to reach our decision but in addition to all this information we always have safety in mind so our allocation for the first race in Korea will naturally be on the conservative side. The tyres for Korea are currently being shipped to the track and we are very interested to see this new facility when we go there in seven weeks time.

“Suzuka [Japan] puts the tyres through a tough workout so we have the harder combination of hard and soft, whilst Sao Paulo [Brazil] and Yas Marina [Abu Dhabi] suit the softer combination of super soft and medium. Due to the nature of the tracks, there were no further opportunities for a hard – super soft allocation, although we did evaluate this after the lessons learnt at Hockenheim.”