Bridgestone Confident Despite Michelin Domination

Bridgestone's technical manager Hisao Suganuma is confident of a strong performance from their runners despite a slow start in practice for the French Grand Prix.

"Overall, the results today were quite positive for Bridgestone knowing what fuel levels were being run," said Suganuma. "In addition, we expect the conditions on Sunday to be similar to today and since we encountered no problems with heat durability and wear I am quite encouraged.

"Of course, tomorrow's qualifying session will give us a more realistic picture, but the signs are that it is going to be a tough weekend for everyone."

Only the Bridgestone-shod Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were capable of breaking Michelin's stronghold. Eight of the top ten runners in today's session were using the French rubber, and McLaren drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen topped the timesheets for Michelin.

Most of the teams concentrated on testing different tyre compounds ahead of Sunday's race, but the heat at the French circuit made things very hard for them to choose the right tyre for the race.

"All our teams tried both specifications and at the moment it is very difficult to conclude which will be the more suitable for the race," Suganuma added. "That said, we expected the option specification to show better consistency and that was confirmed today.

"The track was slippery this afternoon and our other tyre seems to have more grip. Tonight we will work on analysing which will have the overall advantage in qualifying and in the race."