Bridgestone: no Ferrari advantage

Ahead of the first test of the winter at Barcelona later this month, Bridgestone's director of motorsport development Hirohide Hamashima is adamant that an all-new design of tyre will put all teams on a level playing field.

There have been fears voiced that Ferrari's long standing and close relationship with Bridgestone could give them a crucial advantage over those teams switching from Michelin.

"We have extensively modified the construction, more so than the hardness of the compounds," Hamashima told autosport.com. "I think even those teams who have had experience of our tyres are going to have to start with a blank sheet of paper when it comes to understanding them.

"Until we test it is not easy to say how it will affect different teams, but there may be a possibility that Ferrari lose more by going back to these type of tyres. Everyone will start at the same startline. It will be equal conditions for all. That is our aim."

Despite his belief that the type of tyres Bridgestone is introducing will put all teams on a level footing, Hamashima does admit that Ferrari may have a slight edge in terms of the personal relationships they have built up with Bridgestone engineers over the years.

"As far as human relationships are concerned, of course we know them inside out and they know us because of our long term relationship," he explained. "So maybe that is an advantage, and that is something other teams cannot copy.

"But technically speaking, we have changed to a completely new compound and construction. It is our intention to start everyone from the same level.

"We have specifically set out so that every team has an equal number of tyres. We will not test anything different unless we have enough tyres for everyone. We are specific about this in 2007."