Monaco GP: Bridgestone brings out the heavy artillery with soft tires

A very interesting race weekend for Bridgestone, the official tire supplier in F1. The Monaco race is looming on the horizon, an urban circuit where the tires will be greatly challenged.

The tires offered to the teams will be the softest in Bridgestone’s range with the Super-Soft and Soft options. Everything will be a matter of aerodynamic downforce on a very changeable track since after Thursday’s practice sessions, the cars won’t run on Friday before returning on Saturday morning.

Hirohide Hamashima – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport:

« Finding grip will be the main challenge on the streets of Monte Carlo. It is a very interesting track, and the surface is made up of different types. What needs to be taken into account is that F1 cars do not run on Friday, so track conditions can change between Thursday and Saturday. When there are no races, vehicles and people normally use the track. The situation is difficult as the surface can become dirty. »

« The new intermediate tires will provide more grip thanks to a softer compound than the old ones, but driving the latest specification on a wet track will still be a challenge. The latest tires have less aerodynamic downforce than in the past, and this is true in both wet and dry conditions. »

« On dry surfaces, this low level of downforce is not such a problem because the tires have more grip than the previous grooved tires, so there is more mechanical grip to counteract the loss of aerodynamic grip. On wet surfaces, even with our intermediate tires, there is only a little more grip than before. »