Bridgestone worried drivers could run out of tyres
quote:
Bridgestone are worried that teams could run out of wet-weather tyres in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix if the weather remains changeable like yesterday and has warned that tyre management will be very crucial for teams and drivers over the rest of the weekend. All drivers have just four sets of intermediates and three sets of extreme wets for use during the weekend, and they have each already burned through one set of the intermediate and completed extensive running on a set of the extreme wet.
Speaking in the paddock on Friday, Bridgestone's director of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima said he was surprised the entire field used up a set of their intermediate tyres in second practice with more changeable conditions expected on Saturday and Sunday.
“In FP2 I was very surprised that everybody wasted one set of the intermediate,” siad Hamashima. “The majority of the opinion is that the intermediate performance was going down after five to ten laps. I am very worried that if they start the race with the intermediate and then rain comes ten laps in, performance will be not enough. So then tyre management is very, very crucial.”
When asked if he was worried drivers would run out of tyres by the end of the race, Hamashima said he was. “I think so, that's why I was so surprised that every driver wasted one set of intermediate tyres today,” continued Hamashima. “If I were an engineer for the driver, maybe we would have checked the car balance with the intermediate in reasonable conditions only, not running through the drier conditions.”
He did, however, dismiss concerns from the drivers that the degradation on the extreme wet tyre was too high towards the end of first practice. Hamashima said there would be no problem with tyre wear if the rain remained consistent.
“After the end of FP1, when the surface was not in a good condition for wet tyres, the wet tyre gauge was very thick at that time, so everyone felt a moving sensation and that's why the degradation was so big,” he explained. “If the rain is consistent then the wear rate will be reasonable. In that case maybe everybody won't feel the moving sensation and they can keep a reasonable laptime during the race.”
Hamashima also defended Bridgestone's decision to bring just seven wet-weather tyres to every race weekend, as stipulated in the regulations, saying that the allocation was arrived upon based on data from previous wet race weekends. Bridgestone is reluctant to bring more wet-weather tyres to races because of the cost of transporting their tyres around the world.
“A few years ago Briatore complained so strongly that there weren't enough wet and intermediate tyres,” said Hamashima, “but we explained to everybody that the past data showed that three sets of wets and four sets of intermediates are enough... Until yesterday! This weekend I don't know.”
Saturday's weather forecasts are predicting a dry final practice session, although qualifying could be wet.