Malaysia preview quotes: Bridgestone
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
Q. What are the challenges of Sepang?
"Sepang is quite severe on tyres as it has many different corner types and two heavy braking zones after long straights. This means the energy going through the tyres over a lap is considerable. Drivers will have to be careful not to lock their brakes, especially with the new generation cars which seem less stable due to the lower levels of downforce. High temperatures are usually a factor in Malaysia, and the later start time for the race is when we often see rain, so there are many challenges we could face."
Q. What are the implications of the tyre allocation?
"The hard compound we have in Malaysia is a development from the hard compound that teams used in pre-season testing. It has been modified to be softer than before, in response to feedback from the teams, however it is not a very big change and I am confident that it will be suitable. Management of the soft compound is likely to be the biggest challenge of the weekend, as we have not previously brought a soft tyre to Sepang."
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