Concerns have been raised over the safety of cold tyres with tyre warmers being banned from the sport from 2009 onwards. Michael Schumacher, along with GPDA president Pedro de la Rosa, Nico Rosberg and David Coulthard have all publicly questioned whether it is safe to ban tyre warmers or not without tyre warmers, there may be significant speed differences between drivers already up-to-seed and those on their out-laps.
Bridgestone have moved to quell these fears by saying the performance of their slick tyres from cold has improved a lot.
“Running with the slick tyres has been interesting and we are also happy with their performance,” Bridgestone s technical manager Tetsuro Kobayashi explained. “The situation of warm-up with these tyres is much improved as we look to the future with no tyre warmers.
“We brought 3 compounds of slicks here so there was a lot of work to do, especially with teams running with different aerodynamic configurations.
“We have accumulated good data for analysis from the four days here. This data will be processed and investigated carefully to evaluate our next steps.
“Teams will also be making use of the data they have gained – the drivers now have a greater understanding of driving Formula 1 cars with slick tyres to the 2009 regulations with lower levels of downforce and no tyre blankets.
“We should all expect to see more progress next time we test slicks, which is planned for Jerez testing in July.”
