Bridgestone: Michelin has Made Us Quicker

Bridgestone technical manager Yoshihiko Ichikawa has told tyre rivals Michelin that their entry into Formula One has made the Japanese suppliers work even harder to stay on the pace.

"We have deep respect for our competitor," said Ichikawa. "This has driven us to make significant improvements in performance.

"Our evolution tyres are already as much as three seconds a lap faster than the equivalent 2000 equipment although the aerodynamic changes imposed by the FIA for 2001 will have the opposite effect."

Ichikawa also said that Bridgestone would wait until the last moment before manufacturing the tyres needed to supply the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, BAR, Jordan, Sauber and Arrows in Australia.

"For us there is nothing unusual about leaving the final decision on the specification of our tyres until close to the first race," he said.

"The staff at the racing division in Tokyo know that this is all part of being competitive.

"They are ready to start work on producing the 1900 tyres, in wet and dry specifications, which will be flown down to Melbourne in the days before the race."

Reigning world champion Michael Schumacher has already backed Bridgestone's commitment during the past few weeks after spending much of his testing time on tyre evaluation.

"We can be sure of being well prepared for the first races," Schumacher said. "There has been a lot of progress on tyre devlopment and we must not be concerned.

"To me, tyres are more or less the most important single factor of winning races. I expect strong competition between Bridgestone and Michelin because they are both very strong, but I think Bridgestone will have the advantage."