18/10/2004
NEWS STORY
Bridgestone Motorsport is eager to get to Brazil this week for the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship season finale and assist its teams who are all keen to finish the year on a high. Last year's victorious result saw Giancarlo Fisichella take his maiden F1 win in torrential rain conditions. He, like many of the Bridgestone drivers will be relishing the chance to return to the challenging 4.309km Interlagos track after a break of 18 months. The Italian is also just two points behind McLaren's David Coulthard in the points' standings and can be expected to fight hard this weekend. The Brazilian round will also be a great opportunity for Bridgestone runners Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa, who have both had an impressive season in their own right, to compete in front of their home crowd.
Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport: 2004 has been a great season for Bridgestone and its teams and it is a pleasure to finish the year in Brazil, an important market for Bridgestone. Last year, Giancarlo Fisichella won this event for the Jordan Ford team. He now drives for Sauber Petronas and I wish him and all our teams the very best of luck again this year. As always, our technical team has been working around the clock to ensure we have the right tyres for this event and after 17 hard fought races already this year, I am immensely proud of their relentless commitment to our teams.
2004 Tyres for Sao Paulo
Bridgestone has sent 1,400 Bridgestone Potenza Formula One tyres from its Tokyo production facility to Sao Paulo for the forthcoming race. These comprise of five different dry weather tyre specifications, one wet weather tyre and one extreme weather specification. The latter of these, the extreme weather tyre, can only be used in extreme weather circumstances and when the FIA permits its use. The introduction of this tyre mid season in 2003 was a direct result of last year's Brazilian Grand Prix, which saw high levels of intense rainfall.
Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager: It has been approximately 18 months since our last visit to the Sao Paulo circuit and although we are competing at a different time of year, we expect weather conditions to be similar. Our range of compounds, mid to soft, has therefore not changed dramatically for the relatively smooth track surface. Interlagos can, however, be tough on rear tyres so our teams will be benefiting from Bridgestone's latest specification rear tyre which we expect will give them a competitive edge. We also expect the track to be quite green upon our arrival so it will be a busy day on Friday as the teams assess their tyre choices while having to bear in mind that the track will evolve over the course of the weekend. However, I am very much looking forward to the Brazilian round; it's a great race to finish the season with.