Germany Preview Quotes: Bridgestone

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport: "Silverstone was a genuine reflection of the hard work and effort everyone at Bridgestone and in our teams have been putting in recently. However, as we said, that was just the first phase and there is still much work to do. We won at Hockenheim last year with Michael but it is a demanding circuit and it will be a real test of our progress so far."

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager: "Hockenheim was modified prior to last year's GP and one of the most significant aspects of those changes was the consequent reduction in average speeds. Very little data was available last year because of those changes but we now know from last year's race that the circuit is still hard from a heat durability point of view. To be as competitive as possible, we shall be bringing tyres from the mid-soft range. But, heat durability is an important factor at Hockenheim as cars can keep relatively high speeds in several corners, generating significant heat in the tyres. Strategy wise, in previous years we've seen two stops from the top teams but I suspect we may see different strategies this year. For sure it's going to be a tough race but we gave Ferrari winning tyres last year with very little data available so I'm confident that with a year's experience and the recent lessons we've learnt, we'll be strong in Germany."