26/10/2005
NEWS STORY
Speaking to Pitpass on Wednesday, a Bridgestone spokeswoman said that the Japanese tyre company would wait and see before commenting on the proposals put forward by the Formula One Commission earlier this week.
Until the proposals have been fully ratified, there is no point in officially commenting on whet were essentially discussions behind closed doors," she said. However, she admitted that the re-introduction of tyre stops would reduce testing mileage and thereby reduce costs.
On the issue of control tyres, Bridgestone has made no secret of the fact that it would "prefer competition", however, having been the sole tyre supplier for two seasons (1999 and 2000) it is understood that the Japanese company would still consider remaining in F1. "We have made a lot of investment in Formula One," said the spokeswoman, "therefore we would need to evaluate."
As for the new qualifying format, the response was quite simple: "We are happy to work with whatever regulations are in place. If that's the format proposed, we will adapt to that format."
Although Ferrari is currently testing at Vallelunga, Bridgestone will not be carrying out any serious tyre testing until late November, when WilliamsF1 will have its first run on Japanese rubber since 2000. Toyota and Bridgestone have yet to officially agree a partnership for 2006.