Bridgestone changes Valencia tyre choices

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F1 drivers will use Bridgestone’s medium tyre compound at the European Grand Prix in Valencia for this first time at the track when the teams race their this year.

The street race has been brought forward on the Grand Prix calendar and this year the teams will use Bridgestone’s Medium and Super Soft tyres instead of the Soft and Super Soft compounds used last year. The same change has also been made for next week’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Bridgestone has also announced which tyres it is bringing to the Canadian Grand Prix – the first with slick tyres since 1997 – and the British Grand Prix at the revised Silverstone circuit.

Circuit2010 tyres2009 tyres
BahrainMedium / Super SoftMedium / Super Soft
Albert ParkHard / SoftMedium / Super Soft
SepangHard / SoftHard / Soft
ShanghaiHard / SoftMedium / Super soft
BarcelonaHard / SoftHard / Soft
Monte-CarloMedium / Super SoftSoft / Super soft
IstanbulHard / SoftHard / Soft
MontrealMedium / Super SoftN/A
ValenciaMedium / Super SoftSoft / Super Soft
SilverstoneHard / SoftHard / Soft

Allocations announced previously in italics.

Bridgestone’s head of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima said:

The Silverstone circuit is historically the most severe on the calendar and now the new layout makes it even more severe. The new straight means a higher average speed, and there is hard braking and fierce acceleration over a lap. As always, we will be very vigilant to watch tyre temperature and wear. We expect we will see graining, even with the hard compound, but we believe that the soft and the hard compounds should allow exciting racing.
Hirohide Hamashima

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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14 comments on “Bridgestone changes Valencia tyre choices”

  1. Am I the only one who thinks the super softs aren’t soft enough and the hards are too hard? I remember the days when a super soft qualifying tyre would only last 3 laps…

    1. Yes so true… But now they got two excuses for that: 1. Tyres for 3 laps are not green. 2. Tyres for 3 laps are more expensive.

      1. Imagine having to start the race on those. After qualifying they use at least 2 laps, so that would mean pitting in the first or second lap. In that case all cars in Q3 would have to do qualifying on harder tyres.

        The sofst should last at least for some 10-12 laps to make them usable.

  2. Robert McKay
    5th May 2010, 12:48

    Very interesting that they have went with the step between the compounds for the street circuits where last year they didn’t.

    I wonder if that is about pressure on “the show”, given what we saw in Bahrain, or simply a decision based on newer compounds and their operating windows in 2010.

  3. ‘We expect we will see graining, even with the hard compound’
    Excuse me, but surely the idea is NOT to see graining, ESPECIALLY with the hard compound……..
    I know that tyres cannot be realistically made that would survive the whole race distance, but I keep getting the impression that Bridgestone are deliberately making tyres that will not last even half that.
    Is that their contribution to safety, or are they being pushed into it by FOM or the FIA?
    We have been lucky so far in that most races have used the wets, or that the drivers have managed to preserve what tyres they have.
    But would Bridgestone take the blame if one of their tyres breaks and causes a major accident?

    1. I think that’s a bit opf a strecth, at the start of the season Bridgestone had massive criticism for making tyres that could last the majority of the race easily.
      Tyres have grained and fallen apart plenty of times, it’s up to the drivers to manage it. It’s nothing new, of course I don’t want a big accident but I think it isn’t likely to happen.
      Bridgestone probably won’t want their tyres falling apart anyway; they’re done with F1 after this year so there isn’t that much pressure on them and most imporantly they are trying to sell their brand and give themselves the best image possible.

    2. The tires aren’t close to ‘breaking’, by the time they’ve worn that much they’d be losing so much time they’d have to pit anyway. I like the fact the tires are soft, it opens the way for alternate pit strategies.

    3. so u can’t remember then in 2005 when they had to make the tyre’s last through qualifying as well as the entire grand prix and michelin’s was the better tyre to be on

    4. A tyre graining is a long way from a tyre bursting, as it is, even the softest tyres will last and entire race in hot conditions, yes they will “grain” , but that isn’t saying they will wear to nothing, it is saying the outer layer of the tyre will wear and turn into small “pebbles” on the surface of the tyre, this reduces the tyre’s grip and slows the car.

      This is exactly what commentators mean when they talk about marbles on the race track, only that the rubber has fallen off the tyre rather than stuck to it.

  4. Super softs will be interesting in Monaco, they’ll obviously have to qualify on them as I’d expect mediums to be far too hard for one lap pace, but then with heavy fuel they’ll probably eat them up in 10-15 laps.

    1. Yeah you’re right I think. I remember Seb trashed his fairly early on last year too so it should be even harder to make them last this year, although they pit quite early now anyway.

    2. So that means, that everybody will just pit around lap 12 and get on with the medium tyres.
      The mediums will last to the end, so no tyre strategy. Will they get some overtaking on track done to make up places after that?

      1. Robert McKay
        6th May 2010, 12:26

        Well that’s what the top 10 will do, likely…depends how much they can gap the rest of them, surely?

      2. “The mediums will last to the end, so no tyre strategy.”

        Some will last to the end, others won’t.

        That’s what makes it interesting. :)

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