Bridgestone Sunday press release - 4th September 17:01pm GMT

Bridgestone shod Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello will be disappointed not to have scored any points today in the Italian Grand Prix after running as high as fifth and sixth in the opening laps. The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro pair each suffered misfortunes with Barrichello picking up a puncture, resulting in an extra stop for a replacement tyre, and Schumacher going off
track, damaging his car and his race chances. There is some consolation in that Schumacher maintains his third place in the Drivers’ Championship and Scuderia Ferrari still lies third in the Constructors’ Championship. Bridgestone’s four remaining drivers from the Jordan and Minardi teams will be pleased to have all taken the chequered flag. Jordan and Tiago Monteiro, in particular, will be relieved with their successful race debut of the new EJ15B.

Hisao Suganuma – Technical Manager – Bridgestone Motorsport
“A tough race today. Rubens picked up something on track and started to lose air in his left rear tyre. Fortunately the sensor picked it up and he was able to change the tyre before the condition worsened any further. The car-tyre package was just not performing as well as it is capable of so we shall need to analyse the data carefully. We need to improve this performance for the future. There are still four more races to go so we shall try our best to turn the situation around.”

Ross Brawn – Technical Director – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
“That was obviously a difficult race for us. We didn’t get the starts we wanted to on our chosen strategy and got held up at the beginning. Rubens then got a puncture in his left rear tyre, which spoilt his race. Michael went off track and damaged his car, spoiling his race too. However, we were not really in a strong position anyway. The car balance was OK, we just didn’t have the overall performance needed.”