Bridgestone: no plans to leave F1

With Michelin having announced on Wednesday that it will quit Formula One at the end of 2006 because it is unhappy about the move to a single tyre supplier, Bridgestone has made it clear that it is committed to the sport for the long term.

Bridgestone's technical manager Hisao Suganuma said that the company would remain in F1 - whether there was competition or not.

"In a competition one can learn a lot and one can improve a lot," he told autosport.com during testing at Jerez in Spain. "And of course Bridgestone prefers competition.

"However, Bridgestone as a company has a very long term commitment to F1 and whether there is competition or just one make, we continue to stay."

Suganuma claimed that Michelin's decision to withdraw at the end of next season would only serve to increase the competitive tension between the two manufacturers in 2006.

"It is very similar to the situation in 1998," said Suganuma, referring to Goodyear's final season in F1. "The only thing we can do, having got more teams for this year, is to do our best to supply those teams with the best possible products.

"They (Michelin) will want to leave the sport on a high - they will want to leave as champions I am sure. And we would like to finish 2006 as champions too.

"So we do our maximum to achieve that. But how much effort we have to make I cannot really quantify, although we will do our best."

Suganuma admitted that from a personal viewpoint he would prefer for there to be competition in F1, despite the sport's future switch to control tyres.

"As a tyre engineer it is more interesting to be in a competitive situation as we can try out so many new things," he said. "We can really advance a lot faster. It keeps the motivation level high, so personally I welcome the competition.

"Beyond 2006, I suppose it will be very conservative but we go about it, I am not thinking about that now. Let me think about that once we have won in 2006."