Bridgestone debriefs on tire performance at Silverstone

The AirAsia British Grand Prix thoroughly tested the tire compounds Bridgestone supplied for the sixth round of the 2011 Championship. The weather threw everything it had at the riders during the weekend – Friday morning was dry, the afternoon was wet but drying, Saturday was warm and dry but Sunday was soaked after relentless rain all day.

Bridgestone's Hirohide Hamashima discussed how the revised compounds performed during the Silverstone Grand Prix.

“I'm happy with the performance of our front tire options this year. We saw that on Friday morning and Saturday many riders preferred the soft compound, which we didn’t have at Silverstone last year. Feedback was good for both options and the laptimes on both were also fast,” said the Japanese technician. “Last year Silverstone was a new circuit for everyone so that made tire selection very difficult and theoretical. This season, using last year’s race data, we were able to make a much more accurate and, I believe, more suitable selection. It’s part of continually learning, analyzing and using that data to develop and improve in the right direction.”

Analyzing Sunday’s performance under cold and wet conditions, Hamashima explained:

“The biggest challenge for the wet race on Sunday was the amount of standing water on the circuit. Durability and consistency (of the tires) were both reasonable, but some riders were caught out by aquaplaning which happens when there is too much standing water or the puddles are too deep for the tires to disperse all the water, leaving a film of water between the tires and the tarmac. Overall though, Casey (Stoner) in particular was able to demonstrate great performance in what were very slippery and difficult conditions so I am happy with the way our wet tires dealt with the conditions and cold temperatures.”