16/10/2009
NEWS STORY
Bridgestone's super soft tyre proved to be the fastest rubber at the undulating anti-clockwise Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo for the first day of the Brazilian Grand Prix as Fernando Alonso set a time of 1min 12.314secs in the afternoon practice session.
Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber set the fastest time in the morning practice session, using the super soft to achieve a 1min 12.463secs. Weather conditions were cool and cloudy all day with intermittent showers. In the afternoon session all drivers were separated by less than a second.
What was significant about today's running?
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development: "The first day at Interlagos is always a challenge and today was no different. The track surface was dirty and wet from drizzle and the weather was cooler than we expected. The temperature meant that the medium compound took a little longer to warm-up. Even so, both compounds worked well. The super soft has more grip however we saw graining on the front and rear tyres. Some drivers reported a moving sensation from the rear with the super soft, and this is a characteristic of the softer compound rubber."
How do you expect this allocation to work over the weekend?
HH: "We have to look to the skies for the answer to that question. As we saw last year, rain can be a very big factor here and many forecasts predict more rain over the weekend. For qualifying with the temperature similar to today we can expect the super soft to be the favoured tyre. For the race the medium compound should be the favoured tyre, although some competitors might find good results with the super soft."