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Potenza tyres for first five rounds of 2009 Formula One

bridgestone 2009 f1 tyre

By Bridgestone: 26th February 2009: Bridgestone Motorsport announce tyre specifications. Bridgestone, the Official Tyre Supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship, is pleased to announce the compound allocations of Potenza tyres for the first five rounds of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship. This season sees slick tyres make a return to Formula One after eleven seasons of grooved dry tyres.

Slick tyres mean that softer rubber compounds can be used, meaning more mechanical grip is available for competitors. This change is significant for teams and drivers and is accompanied by considerable changes to the car aerodynamic packages, designed to reduce downforce and stimulate overtaking. There is a change in tyre allocation rationale too. For the past two seasons, Bridgestone has brought two consecutive compounds from its range of four rubber compounds to each event.

bridgestone-2009-f1-tyre

For 2009, non- consecutive allocations will occur at most races. As well as a difference in compound stiffness, there will be a variation in temperature working range between the two allocated compounds at an event. The compounds themselves are new, because of the different requirements of slick tyres compared with grooved tyres, however they will retain the same names of hard, medium, soft and super soft.

There are no changes to the wet and extreme weather tyres, which will be brought to all events in case of adverse weather. The method of distinguishing between the two compounds on event will be through means of green bands painted on the edges of the tyre sidewalls of the softer tyres at a race.
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Pic by: formula1.com

This marking allows the compounds to be visually distinguishable by fans at the circuit and those watching on television. The green colour has been chosen to show Bridgestone’s continued support of the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign. Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says: “2009 looks like it should be a very exciting season with very big changes to the cars. From our perspective we have changed our allocation strategy so that we can bring non-consecutive allocations to races.

The compounds will not only vary in terms of compound hardness, but also working range. We have tried to have one tyre which has a quick warm-up and delivers a fast lap time immediately, and the other tyre which has a higher working range, so will not deliver immediate fast times, but gives very consistent and durable performance when it is at its operating temperature. Of course, we are subject to many variables such as different cars and drivers, not to mention the weather, which was such a big factor in 2008.

We hope that the change in allocations gives competitors a good challenge and the fans entertaining racing. We are also proud to support the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign through our tyre markings.” Tyre compounds for the 2009 season: Grand Prix Super Soft Soft Medium Hard ING Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne) X X Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix (Sepang) X X Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai) X X Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix (Sakhir) X X Gran Premio de España Telefónica (Barcelona)

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    PocketRocket
  • Feb 27, 2009
hooo! i want those....whats the measurements?
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    A1diablo
  • Feb 27, 2009
Obviously the pic above are of the grooved tyres for last season. Wondering if this season's slicks are narrower than previous. This would sacrifice the gain on mechanical grip but reduce in aero drag, improving straight line speed
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    skazareth
  • Feb 27, 2009
ahh...A1diablo..its u again... u also know something la...
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    Tom
  • Feb 27, 2009
thanks to a1diablo for the heads up
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    1Enzo1
  • Feb 27, 2009
in the 2nd pic, what's the difference between the tyres at the left side n the other tyres at the right side..the surface on it looks different..
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    Tom
  • Feb 27, 2009
the pics have been updated with the official ones.

1enzo1: i'm pretty sure the rights are used and left aren't
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    vincent
  • Feb 28, 2009
These are for when it's dry. How bout when it's raining and the track is wet? Back to grooved?
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    1ENZO1
  • Feb 28, 2009
Why only use it for first five rounds?
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    A1diablo
  • Feb 28, 2009
vincent: When it rains heavily they'll use the treaded tyres (right most tyre in the top photo). If it rains lightly, or in changing conditions they use 'intermediates' which are not in the photos above
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    vincent
  • Mar 1, 2009
Oh ok. Thanx a1diablo.

Yea why is it for first five rounds only? free sample? lol.
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