Bridgestone Promise to Fight Back

Japanese tyre supplier Bridgestone have promised to fight back following a disappointing French Grand Prix weekend dominated by rivals Michelin.

German Ralf Schumacher, in the Michelin-shod Williams, gave the French manufacturer their fifth win of the season after dominating the race from start to finish, with Juan Pablo Montoya completing the second consecutive one-two finish for the Williams team.

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher had to settle for third place, with Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello winding up seventh in the only other point-scoring Bridgestone-tyred car.

Bridgestone's technical manager Hisao Suganuma said they will learn from this weekend's experience and promised to fight back.

"Whilst valuable points were gained today for Ferrari, this afternoon's race was very important and we will learn from it," said Suganuma at the end of the day. "I am sure the loss of this race will serve only to inspire us to produce better and faster tyres.

"We have an important few days of testing next week at Barcelona and Mugello/Fiorano, working hard with four of our teams and we will be testing a number of development specifications. We will strike back, there's no doubt about it."