Hirohide Hamashima the Director of Bridgestone's Motorsport Tyre Development according, the Shanghai International Circuit will supply the sternest test of tyre sport so far this season."Shanghai International Circuit is severe on tyres," said Hamashima. "There are very high lateral forces and we expect to see graining on the front left tyres, especially caused by the increasing radius turn two and the banked turn thirteen. We could also see graining on the rear tyres here too. We are a step harder in our allocation for this year compared to 2009 because of the heavier cars and the severity of this track."
The new FIA policy for 2010 stipulates that a team can only modify its tyres once during a race. It means that tyre option is even more serious than ever on which mix a team make a decision to start the race on. And Hamashima thinks that the climate could also play a key part in this conclusion in Shanghai. For the teams and drivers, discovering the right set-up to make the best use of their tyres will be a big challenge. Last year the challenge was the climate, and we saw our wet tyres used for most of the race. It was not the first time we have had wet conditions in China so the sky will be a strong thought for this weekend.
Image © Sutton Images
