Belgium Saturday quotes: Bridgestone
Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone director of motorsport tyre development: Today was all about timing. The challenge for teams and drivers was ensuring they were on the right tyre at the right time. Mark timed his pole lap to perfection, but Lewis drove exceptionally well to set the second fastest lap despite the rain falling once more. Again, it was a difficult day for everyone with numerous rain showers. We saw use of our full range of tyres here today. The qualifying sessions were particularly difficult, leaving us with an interesting grid for tomorrow's race
The first consideration is the weather. If there is any rain tomorrow, teams will have to evaluate the usable wet and intermediate tyres they have left from their allocations for the weekend and decide which will be best for the conditions. If there are many rain showers in the race it will be difficult in terms of tyre management because a drying track wears the wet and intermediate tyres very quickly. If the track is damp, a set of previously used intermediate tyres could be the best solution for the conditions.
With such a long lap here, it is very difficult for everyone to make the correct choice, and the penalty for being on the wrong tyre is amplified by the length of the lap. If it is dry tomorrow, there will be the interest of which dry compound performs best. As we have had so little dry running so far there is little performance data so teams will have to be very reactive in their strategies. I will be very surprised if we have a dull race tomorrow.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Peugeot surprised by severity of WEC Balance of Performance hit
Audi a player, not a spectator, in F1 driver market - Sauber
Mercedes joins Williams and RB with 'quick and cheap' F1 cockpit airflow upgrades
Alpine gets F1 spare car for first time in 2024 as lighter chassis appears in China
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments