Bridgestone’s wet tyres were the tyre of choice in trying conditions for the Chinese Grand Prix held at the Shanghai International Circuit where Sebastian Vettel took Red Bull Racing’s first and his second Formula One victory.
Vettel crossed the line 10.9 secs ahead of team-mate Mark Webber, who scored his best finish with second, meaning two Renault-powered cars on the podium. Drivers’ championship leader Jenson Button (Brawn GP) finished third. All drivers started behind the safety car and therefore on the wet tyres – as stipulated by the regulations – and persistent rain meant that almost all competitors stayed on wet tyres for the duration of the race.
Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
How was the race from Bridgestone’s perspective?
“Once more in 2009 we have seen an exciting race. Congratulations to Red Bull Racing for their first race win and Sebastian Vettel for his second win. I think our tyre allocation was interesting for this weekend and qualifying was exciting, whilst the race was another demonstration of our wet tyres working well in the correct conditions. Interestingly of the front-runners, we saw Rubens Barrichello opt to stay on his existing wet tyres in his final pit stop, rather than change to new ones. Also, we saw Nico Rosberg use the intermediate, but the track surface was never quite dry enough for these tyres.”

Another race where the wet tyres have been used, are you happy with their performance?
“The wet tyres have worked well here. Obviously, the 2009 specification cars have less downforce than before. In the dry, there is more mechanical grip to compensate for the lack of aerodynamic grip, whereas in the wet there is not that compensation. Despite this, our wet tyres worked very well in very difficult conditions. Of course, some parts of the track had very deep puddles, and we saw drivers struggle with aquaplaning, but overall we can be satisfied. Today I think we watched many demonstrations of excellent driving throughout the field.”
Stats of the Day

Bridgestone Potenza Driver Tyre Strategies
Rd.3 – China Grand Prix
In 2009, the tyre regulations stipulate that the two dry tyre specifications must be visibly distinguishable from each other. At the China Grand Prix, the super soft compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres were marked with green bands on the sidewalls. The wet weather tyre was also marked with a green line in a groove.

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Bridgestone’s super soft tyre allowed driver Sebastian Vettel to set his second pole position, and Red Bull Racing’s first ever, with a lap of 1min 36.184secs at Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix. Vettel took pole by just under two tenths from ING Renault’s Fernando Alonso with Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) in third, meaning the top three fastest cars were all Renault powered. Track conditions were improved from Friday, with more rubber down. AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg used the super soft tyre to go fastest in the morning practice session with a time of 1min 36.133secs.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development What was significant about today’s running? “Today was very significant for Red Bull Racing scoring their first pole position so congratulations to them and Sebastian Vettel. Today we have seen that both tyres give good performance here in Shanghai. The difference in best lap time between the two tyres is not so big, at around 0.5 seconds. The super soft gives its best lap time on the first or second flying lap, whereas the medium takes longer to get into the best temperature operating range and delivers its best lap on its third or fourth flying lap. We are still seeing graining on the super soft tyre, however this is not matched by the same amount of tyre degradation that we saw in Australia so there should be more strategy options for tomorrow’s race.

” The weather has been quite variable in China, how could this affect the race? “Of course, this race is taking place at a different time of year from last season so we expected the weather to be different. It is also the first race of the season at the Shanghai International Circuit, so the track conditions are changed from those we saw last year too. Since we have been here the weather has been both quite cool and also quite warm, so it will be interesting to see what happens on Sunday. If it is cooler, the quicker warm-up of the super soft tyre should be useful, however if it is very cool we could see more graining. If it is hotter then the medium tyre will warm-up quicker. Of course, we have seen rain at Shanghai in the past, and we all know that makes for very interesting racing. Tomorrow we will keenly watch both strategy and the skies.”

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Bridgestone’s super soft tyre proved to be the fastest rubber on track at Shanghai for the first day of the Chinese Grand Prix. Jenson Button’s Brawn set the day’s fastest lap time in the afternoon practice session held in sunny weather conditions. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton used the hard compound to go fastest in the morning session. The 5.45 km Shanghai 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 super soft compound tyre has been used at Shanghai. The track surface delivered a lot less grip than seen in 2008’s Friday practice session when there was already Bridgestone race rubber laid on the track as a GP2 Asia Series test took place in the week prior to the Grand Prix.   Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development What was significant about today’s running? “Today the circuit surface delivered very little grip initially in the first practice, but this improved and the track was better in the afternoon. As we would expect on a Friday, we saw graining, but the amount of graining varied across the teams. Of particular note, the tyre appearance of the Brawn and Toyota cars was very beautiful and even, meaning they appear to be using their tyres well, but some other teams are still finding the best set-ups. In the second session we saw both tyres used and the performance of the super soft in terms of degradation was not as bad as in Australia.”   Is the Super Soft tyre correct for Shanghai and how are the tyre allocations decided for races? “We decide the allocations for the races based on many factors including past experience, test information and feedback from the teams. All teams have a dedicated Bridgestone engineer who works with the drivers and team engineers so we have constant information regarding any tyre issues. The teams are made aware of our allocations for races many weeks in advance, so there is plenty of time for feedback. For 2009 we are making a bigger difference between the two compounds and this is in response to requests for this from the FIA and the teams. This gives more of a challenge for the races, and of course any change brings many opinions. Here we have the medium tyre, which should be a strong race tyre, and the super soft, which will require good tyre management in terms of car set-up and driving style. Of course, we saw different approaches to using the super soft tyre in Australia, with some approaches working much better than others, so it will be interesting to see competitors rise to the challenge here in Shanghai.”

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