01/04/2005
NEWS STORY
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.
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.