Bridgestone announce tyre compounds

It’s not Bridgestone’s fault. They do try hard to keep some interest in what was once described as a ‘black art’. The fact is that tyres mean relatively little in modern day Formula One - largely thanks to the decision by the FIA to opt for a single official supplier.

Bridgestone may be scheduled to depart at the end of the 2010 season, but they are still pushing on with their four compounds for the season and today announced which will be used in the opening three races of the season.

The Japanese manufacturer has the super-soft, soft, medium and hard tyres available again this year and while they have narrowed the front rubber, they have sadly retained the green strip which is meant to signify something green and good for the environment.... or specifically ’Bridgestone’s continued support of the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign.” Right.

“Tyre strategy will be very important in 2010 as there is no longer refuelling which was previously a big factor in determining when pit stops would occur," Bridgestone’s Hirohide Hamashima claims.

"We have changed all our dry compounds for this season, as the cars will be heavier and the stint lengths could be longer. We have also made changes to enable quicker warm-up times. We will bring harder tyres to Australia than we did last season, but the compound allocation positions for Bahrain and Malaysia are the same as they were in 2009.

“There will be a big challenge for teams this season on how they use their tyres as they have fewer sets of dry tyres available than before, particularly with the softer tyre at each race. We are happy to continue to show our support of the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign with the green markings on our tyres and we look forward to what should be a very exciting start to the season in Bahrain.”

The tyre firm announced that they would use the super-soft and medium tyre in Bahrain while in both Australia and Malaysia they will use the soft and hard compounds.

It remains to be seen if this interesting or not. Doubt it.