Get Out of the Groove
Bridgestone is to work with slick rubber for the first time since 1997 in the 2009 Formula One season. Rule changes are to prevent the use of grooved racing tyres next season, meaning that this weekend’s season-closer in Brazil will be the grooves’ last stand.
Hirohide Hamashima, the company’s director of motorsport tyre development, explained the company’s 188 Grand Prix history with grooved tyres to F1 news sources: “Developing grooved tyres was very exciting for us as we only had experience of slick racing tyres. We had the challenge of developing a tyre with a hard compound because of the structure and tread profile of the tyre, but one which gave the good grip required for Formula One. From an engineering perspective it has been a very interesting aspect of our motorsport activities. We began testing our first grooved tyres in 1997 with Damon Hill. The first tyres were a modified slick tyre to let us understand the differences and requirements of a grooved tyre. We soon found that the wear rate on the front tyre was very high, and we experienced a lot of graining, so the compound we used for this tyre would have to be a lot harder.