Europe preview quotes: Bridgestone
Hirohide Hamashima, director of Bridgestone motorsport tyre development: "The Valencia street course is new to Formula One so this will present many challenges for the teams. We have evaluated the track layout and surface and we will bring the softest tyres in our compound range, the soft and super soft
"This is a street course with many corners, although we expect quite high speeds to be attained over the course of a lap. As with any street course, we expect the grip levels from the circuit to improve over the course of the weekend. In Valencia in August we should see quite high temperatures, so teams will have to be vigilant with their tyre management. As we have not raced here previously this should be a learning process for everyone involved, and strategy decisions over the race weekend will be interesting.
"When we entered Formula One in 1997 all of the circuits were new to us with F1 cars so it is fitting that we should celebrate our 200th race with a new track. Valencia is a city we spend a lot of time in when we are testing at the permanent race circuit so to be able to race along the streets of the port will be particularly special for us."
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