Bridgestone Sunday press release - 6th March 07:19am GMT

Rubens Barrichello opened his 2005 campaign in fine style today after flying to a second place podium spot from eleventh on the grid. The Bridgestone shod Brazilian encountered unfortunate weather conditions yesterday meaning that his aggregated qualifying time saw him start from the sixth row. However, the combination of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s pitstop tactics and Bridgestone’s new tyres, which gave him the consistent pace he needed from start to finish, giving him the edge to climb up through the field and take eight points. Michael Schumacher unfortunately had his race chances shattered when contact with Nick Heidfeld sent him spinning off into the gravel. The World Champion had also been working his way up through the field after starting from the last row of the grid following a weather affected first qualifying and engine change. Meanwhile, three of the four Bridgestone rookies from Jordan and Minardi finished the race, giving them useful race experience.

Hisao Suganuma – Technical Manager – Bridgestone Motorsport
“Rubens started 11th and Michael 19th on the grid and Rubens managed to finish the race in second position which is a fantastic result. It really proves that the development direction we have taken is the correct one. The tyre performed well for both Ferrari cars and kept its performance from beginning to end. We’ve had no problems with the tyres which is very encouraging for future races. It’s good to see the two rookie Jordan drivers finish the race. It’s good experience for the team and I’m sure that they will assist our tyre development this season. Patrick Friesacher also finished his debut race which is encouraging. Overall, while we always like to win, the result was a good one. With the new tyre regulations the requirements of the tyres are different and today we saw that our tyres suited the new regulations and we now just have to push our development to continue to be competitive.”

Ross Brawn – Technical Director – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
“Happy and sad today! Rubens had a great race and he actually had a problem with the car which he reported after about 15 laps so he really did a great job. The guys picked a really good strategy for him and the tyres held up well. We couldn’t have asked for much more considering the qualifying position. You have to remember that we have got the old car here which is a compromise. I’m looking forward to getting the new car but what was encouraging was that the Bridgestone tyres held up very well, they were excellent today and we could probably have been a little more aggressive in our choice.”