Bridgestone: The strategies used by the teams in the British GP

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) achieved his second success of the season in the British Grand Prix, held on the Silverstone track in cloudy weather and cold temperatures, using a tire strategy with alternating soft – soft – hard compounds. The German driver crossed the finish line 15 seconds ahead of teammate Mark Webber, who used the same race strategy as Vettel. The podium was completed by Rubens Barrichello, third with the Brawn GP team, who used a tire strategy with alternating soft – hard – soft compounds. The soft compound Bridgestone Potenza tires performed well on the Silverstone track for the majority of drivers, providing excellent consistency and a better lap time than the hard compound tyres.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Bridgestone Motorsport Director:
“Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel for his second win of the season and to the entire Red Bull Racing team for their second double of the year. The British Grand Prix is ​​always characterized by a fantastic atmosphere and large crowds of fans filled the stands throughout the weekend. Silverstone represents a very important event both for Bridgestone and for our Bridgestone Motorsport division.”

Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Motorsport Development Manager:
“We saw a high race pace from the Red Bull Racing team in cold conditions using the hard and soft compound tyres. The best lap times of both cars were half a second faster than their direct rivals. The soft compound performed particularly well, especially after the second stint, when the track had more rubber, while the hard compound required more time to reach the optimal temperature. It was a very exciting race!”.

Race statistics:
Race time: 13pm – 00pm (local time)
Pilot Tempo Compounds used
Vettel 1h 22m 49s.328 soft-soft-hard
Webber 1h 23m 04s.516 soft-soft-hard
Barrichello 1h 23m 30s.503 soft-hard-soft
Compounds used: hard/soft
Temperatures: Air: 17°C-16°C – Track: 25°C-23°C
Weather conditions: cloudy

Strategies used for Bridgestone Potenza tires – Round 8: British Grand Prix
In 2009, the Tire Regulation states that the two specifications of dry tires must be visually distinguishable from each other. At the British Grand Prix, the soft compound Bridgestone Potenza tires were marked with a green stripe on the shoulder of the tyre. Wet tires were also marked with a stripe placed in the central groove of the tread.

Driver Choice of compounds divided by stint Teams
1st Sebastian Wettel | soft-soft-hard | Red Bull Racing
2nd Mark Webber | soft-soft-hard | Red Bull Racing
3rd Rubens Barrichello | soft-hard-soft | Brawn GP
4th Felipe Massa | soft-soft-hard | Scuderia Ferrari
5th Nico Rosberg | hard-hard-soft | Williams
6th Jenson Button | soft-hard-soft | Brawn GP
7th Jarno Trulli | soft-soft-hard | Toyota
8th Kimi Raikkonen | soft-soft-hard | Scuderia Ferrari
9th Timo Glock | soft-soft-hard | Toyota
10th Giancarlo Fisichella | soft-soft-hard | Force India
11th Kazuki Nakajima | hard-hard-soft | Williams
12th Nelsinho Piquet | hard-soft | Renault
13th Robert Kubica | hard-soft-soft | BMW
14th Fernando Alonso | hard-hard-soft | Renault
15th Nick Heidfeld | soft-hard-soft | BMW
16th Lewis Hamilton | soft-soft-hard | McLaren
17th Adrian Sutil | hard-soft | Force India
18th Sebastian Buemi | hard-soft-soft | Red Bull

RETIRED
Heikki Kovalainen | soft-hard-hard | McLaren
Sebastian Bourdais | soft-soft-hard | Red Bull