As the 2006 season officially draws to a close, tyre manufacturer Bridgestone have declared that they are happy with the progress of their tyres during testing at Jerez.
Six teams, who previously wore Michelin, had been testing the new rubber at Jerez and were working hard to neutalise the advantage that Ferrari, Toyota, Williams, Spyker and Super Aguri have.
Hisao Suganuma from Bridgestone had this to say: “Our initial impressions of the first three winter tests are very positive. These tyres use a new construction and new compounds so all the teams have had to start from the beginning. They have had to consider how to exploit the optimum operating window of the tyre by adjusting their car set-ups and looking at factors such as camber, toe, weight distribution and tyre pressures.
“Initially some teams experienced some rear tyre degradation but as the weeks progressed and as the Jerez circuit improved in grip levels over these past two weeks, we saw that the teams improved their car balance and they were able to set some good, consistent lap times.Of course, track and ambient temperatures are not that high during winter testing in Europe so our next step is to corroborate these results. Overall, we are very pleased that we have been able to provide a consistent tyre whose wide operating window has enabled all the teams to use it.”
Martin Whitmarsh from McLaren is confident that his team have made good progress during their time at Jerez. “During the last three weeks of testing our biggest priority has been to evaluate the 2007 Bridgestone Potenza tyres, understanding them and adapting the MP4-21 chassis to best exploit them. Initial feedback suggests that the Bridgestone Potenza tyres play to our strengths in both aerodynamic and chassis departments. We feel we have made significant gains in finding grip and balance from the tyres, and also controlling the wear and degradation.”
