Track temperatures on day one of
the Bahrain Grand Prix reached 52 degrees Celcius this
afternoon but that didn’t stop Bridgestone’s teams and
tyre engineers from assessing their tyre choices for the weekend’s
event. Once the track cleaned up, Bridgestone’s teams made
good use of the two, one-hour long practice sessions with only Rubens
Barrichello not getting his required track time. Running in their
new F2005 cars, the Ferrari pair set the second and fifth fastest
times in this morning’s session – a positive debut for
the new challenger – but unfortunately for Barrichello, the
Brazilian had his day curtailed with a gearbox problem. No such
problems, however, for the reigning World Champion with Michael
Schumacher going on to complete Ferrari’s tyre programme in
the second practice session, posting the fifth fastest time.
Hisao
Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager:
“As normal on day one of a grand prix, track conditions
were dusty this morning so Ferrari didn’t do much running.
Jordan and Minardi, on the other hand, did go out and started the
important process of assessing their tyre specifications. Robert
Doornbos did well and he has provided his teammates with some good
tyre data. Rubens Barrichello unfortunately has not had much running
today and although it always helps to have the second car for comparison
purposes, Michael Schumacher had a productive afternoon and we are
confident we have enough data. Naturally we shall be studying wear
rates before making final tyre choice decisions and because temperatures
are high here we shall also be looking closely at the heat durability
of our tyres. First impressions, however, of the how the F2005 car
and Bridgestone tyre package is performing are positive and we are
looking forward to getting out there again.”
The
Teams
Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:
“Michael had a good run today and his engineers have
worked well. Michael is pleased with the car’s performance
so far and he has managed to get enough Bridgestone tyre data for
us to analyse the wear rates and tyre consistency this evening before
making a final decision. Rubens unfortunately had a gearbox problem
which we are trying to repair so his track time was cut short today.
On the whole, though, we are pleased with the F2005’s performance
and considering the ambient conditions, it seems to be cooling well.” |
