Bridgestone expected more dominance

That's the opinion of Bridgestone's head of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima after Michelin took four Grand Prix wins this year, all with the Williams-BMW team, compared to the 13 victories taken by Bridgestone-shod cars.

Despite the crushing margin, Hamashima says that he expected to be even more dominant over his French rival.

"It is not what I anticipated," said Hamashima. "I expected cars on our tyres to win more races and have more podium places. However, the Williams-BMW package improved as the season progressed and they took some victories from our teams."

With the competitiveness of the Williams squad gathering pace towards the end of the season, Bridgestone can expect closer competition in 2002. Furthermore it has lost McLaren-Mercedes to Michelin for next year, leaving only Ferrari of the frontrunners still on Japanese rubber.

However, Hamashima feels sure that having fewer teams will not be any great hindrance and some teams may even extend their development efforts to combat the reduced running time.