Bridgestone says teams must adapt

Some drivers had complained about a lack of grip from Bridgestone's harder compound after the first day of this week's Sakhir test, but van der Grint maintained that the tyres were working as expected and that it was up to the teams to acclimatise to them.

"I would not say some teams have 'problems' with tyres," van der Grint told autosport.com.

"Mechanically there are no problems. Maybe some teams are struggling more than others, some have adapted better than others, so there is no problem."

Van der Grint had admitted that the disparity in pace between the hard and soft tyres on the first day of the test was larger than Bridgestone had hoped for, but the gap closed in Friday's hotter conditions.

"We found by the end of yesterday the difference between the two specifications was about six-tenths," he said.

"I said on the first day it was about one second but once the track gets rubbered in and gets hotter it was going to be less.

"Ideally if the difference is about half a second it is okay, but there is no reason to change."

All the teams except Williams and Spyker attended the Bahrain test. Although van der Grint pledged that the absentees would be fully informed about Bridgestone's findings, he hinted the missing teams might regret not getting their drivers' first-hand reports of how the tyres performed in the hot conditions.

"Of course the teams like Spyker and Williams who are not here will get the report," he said.

"They have a reason not to be here, but sometimes what is on paper is different from what drivers feel. But it was their choice (not to come to this test)."