23/08/2009
NEWS STORY
Rubens Barrichello used a soft-soft-super soft strategy to achieve the 150th GP win on Bridgestone Potenza tyres after a thrilling European Grand Prix in Valencia.
Barrichello took his tenth career win in a highly tactical race, where Bridgestone's soft and super soft tyres were closely matched. He led pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton across the line by 2.3 seconds whilst Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver Kimi Raikkonen finished third.
Hiroshi Yasukawa - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport: "Congratulations to Rubens on taking the 150th win on Bridgestone Potenza F1 tyres. We are very proud to have supported so many drivers in their Formula One World Championship victories over the past 13 seasons but it is apt that Rubens, who has been on Bridgestone tyres for all but a season since we entered in 1997, should take this special victory. When Bridgestone started as a tyre supplier to Formula One it was on slick tyres. Since then, there have been several evolutions in tyre technologies and specifications but throughout we have received the fantastic support of the teams, FIA and FOM. We have also seen tremendous growth in the brand awareness of our company around the globe and much of this can be attributed to our F1 related activities. We would like to thank all involved in F1 for their support. We are now in the second of a three year Official Tyre Supplier tenure and look forward to seeing many more exciting battles on our tyres."
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development: "I am very happy to see Rubens win. He first used our F1 tyres in 1997 so it is fantastic that he still has the competitive spirit to win in this highly competitive sport. We are pleased with the performance of both the soft and the super soft Bridgestone Potenzas today. The circuit improved very rapidly, as expected, and as a result drivers could be competitive using the super soft over a stint at the start. The soft was the more consistent tyre however, and we even saw one-stop strategies. Regarding Kazuki Nakajima's tyre, we believe it was a puncture and we are investigating this with the team."