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Bridgestone promise equality for 2007

Bridgestone have vowed to do everything they can next season to make sure that all teams are treated equally when they become Formula One's sole tyre supplier

The Japanese company's long relationship with Ferrari has inevitably left some of their rivals concerned that the Italian team will have an advantage next season when everyone runs on the same rubber.

But Bridgestone's technical manager Hisao Suganuma is confident that any fears about inequality will be alleviated by the characteristics of the tyres and the effort made by his company's engineers in helping each team.

Although the final specification of the 2007 tyres has not been decided yet, Suganuma thinks that the fact Bridgestone will no longer be in competition will allow them to produce rubber that is much easier for the teams to get the best out of.

It is widely accepted that this year's tyres have a far more delicate balance than before between their warm up performance and the grip they have at operating temperature - giving them a very narrow operating window.

"The tyres will be a bit on the easier side from the characteristic point of view," said Suganuma about next year's rubber. "It will not be a performance that is so on the edge.

"So we are just chasing the top performance. Maybe we make a little bit of a step down to make them a bit easier to use."

Suganuma also said that Bridgestone's engineers would work closely with each team, to try and help them adapt as best as possible to the tyres.

"The most important thing is that we have to supply a good service for all the teams, and at the moment we are discussing what is the best way to do that.

"If everyone is using the same tyre then sometimes you can see a bigger gap between the top teams and the bottom teams. In terms of matching the current car and the tyres, there will be some difference between the teams.

"So what we can do is provide the same tyre for all the teams and then try to help them in how they use it, how to help them get the performance out of the tyre. Our engineers will need to work in a different way from this year."

Ultimately, Suganuma thinks the situation will not turn into a problem.

"It was not our decision to be the sole supplier, because our rival just flew off and we should not be blamed in that way," he said.

"There will be some discussions about this, and if we discuss with the teams and with enough technical data I believe we can solve the problem.

"We have already had a relationship with other teams in previous years, so I believe it won't be a problem."

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