Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
What was significant about today’s running?
“We had the challenge of a wet track in Singapore for the first time and this provided an additional factor. We saw wet tyres being used by some for installation laps in the first practice, then use of the intermediate tyres for much of the session. Drivers who didn’t have knowledge of this circuit conducted a lot of laps with the intermediates which gave us a lot of good data. The track was drier for the second session so we were able to see many laps completed on both dry compounds. Interestingly, the lap times were quicker than Friday here last year when the circuit was quite dusty. I think the smoother new surface helped with faster times too, although the new surface did take longer to dry than the older one. Today was also a significant day for our motorsport tyre factory in Japan as the very last Bridgestone Formula 1 tyres were produced. We would like to thank all the workers who have produced around 700,000 tyres for the world’s best drivers over the past 14 years.”
How do you expect this allocation to work over the weekend?
“This is a difficult question. Not only did we have a wet track today, but around 40% of the track has been resurfaced. As with any street course, we see a lot of track evolution over the duration of the weekend so we are unsure exactly how much grip the surface will provide. In addition, there could be further rain before tomorrow’s sessions so the drivers and teams certainly have plenty of work in front of them.”
