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Bridgestone rejects tyre warmer ban delay

Formula One's official tyre supplier Bridgestone is to reject a bid by teams to delay the introduction of a ban in tyre warmers until 2010

Concerns from drivers about the speed differential between cold and warm slick tyres have prompted safety concerns about the dangers of not using tyre blankets from the start of next year.

Teams have requested that the scheduled ban on tyre warmers be delayed for one season, and the FIA has talked with Bridgestone about what it believes to be the best way forward.

But Bridgestone does not share the team's concerns about the situation - and has in fact accused the teams of using safety arguments as a cover for the real reasons behind delaying the ban.

Speaking to autosport.com about the request to delay, Bridgestone's director of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima said: "Bridgestone has said to the FIA that we have confidence in (producing) a good specification of tyres, in terms of grip and handling, without tyre warmers."

Hamashima's stance on there being no need to delay the introduction of a ban on tyre warmers is stemmed partly from his belief that safety is not the real reason why teams want to continue using tyre blankets.

Instead, he thinks some teams are more worried about their rivals gaining a competitive advantage by running tyres below a likely recommended minimum pressure that Bridgestone will introduce for the slick rubber.

"The real concern is minimum pressure," said Hamashima. "They worry about minimum pressure. We suggest a minimum pressure to teams because we would like to keep tyres safe, but some teams will take a risk - and cheat. Other teams are worried about that, so they would like to keep the tyre warmers."

Bridgestone will decide on the specification of slick rubber that will be used in 2009 after next month's Barcelona test - which will mark the third test of the new tyres.

It is hoped that new compounds tried out in the forthcoming run will further alleviate the safety worries expressed by drivers, who did notice an improvement in the characteristics of the tyres between the first test at Jerez last year and the most recent run in Barcelona in April.

Nico Rosberg was one of several drivers who expressed concerns about the situation following that April test - and said the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) was likely to get involved.

"It's not racing, it's survival," he said about the difficulties drivers experienced on their first lap out of the pits on cold tyres. "It's just survival out there, and that's ridiculous, it's not racing.

"They have to do something on the tyres to improve that. It's not the way it should be. You can have cold tyres, but not like that."

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