Australian GP - Bridgestone Friday press release - 16th March 08:07am GMT

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa topped the two practice sessions on Friday at Albert Park ahead of Sunday's ING Australian Grand Prix. The first practice session of the 2007 season got underway to a wet circuit which dried during the course of the 90 minutes. The wet and extreme wet tyres were used in this session.

With the drying track, times dropped dramatically in the final minutes with Alonso taking the top spot. The second session was run in far drier conditions on the medium and soft dry compound tyres and the fastest lap time was almost two seconds quicker than the morning's.

Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations:
"It is a good feeling to finally be back at a Grand Prix after so many tests over the winter. So far our tyres have performed as expected. The medium dry grooved tyre provided a reasonable level of grip and a high level of consistency whilst the soft tyre was fast over a single lap but displayed a higher rate of degradation."

"Both our wet and extreme tyres were used and it was clear to see the teams knew when to use the correct tyres. It was pleasing to see that the majority of teams have a good understanding of the 2007 tyres. On a personal note I was happy and impressed at the performance of Lewis Hamilton on his first day at a Grand Prix especially as six years ago I was discussing Formula One with him at a kart race."