Bridgestone has sacrificed speed for safety

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'The first issue is always safety' - Yasukawa

Both Bridgestone and Michelin have had tyreproblems at some point in the 2005 season!

Ferrari may have sacrificed better results this year because their tyre supplier Bridgestone have put the emphasis on caution rather than speed, Bridgestone's General Manager Hiroshi Yasukawa claimed today at Magny Cours.

"Our company is always concerned about safety first," said Yasukawa. "Then afterwards, we discuss with the teams, and we chose different compounds or constructions or whatever. But the first issue is always safety."

Bridgestone's thoughts are echoed by Ferrari Sporting President Jean Todt, who thinks that their philosophy will pay off.

"Bridgestone, together with Ferrari at some time decided to compromise performance for safety, which we did," he said. "It also happened this year that we had to stop because we simply could not finish the race, like with Rubens in Bahrain and Michael in Barcelona.

"We learned from that and the tyres we took in Nurburgring, for example, were definitely a compromise. They were not the quickest tyres, but we knew we could finish the race."

E.A.Source AFP

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Jean Tod in today conference:" You know I try to avoid getting in to any kind of controversy, so Bridgestone and I have been saying that since years, mainly since the beginning of the season… because if you win then tyres don’t interest anybody. We have been winning so much in the last years, and every time we have said how important (they are) because without Bridgestone we would not have won as much as we did. This year, we did not win, and immediately we tried to find a reason. We tried to find a reason, and of course, it was a lot about the tyres. It is true to say that the biggest difference between last year and this year is the tyre regulations, and together with Bridgestone, we probably didn’t do a good enough job to be as competitive as we wanted. We are working very hard. I think we have improved the situation over the last races and I hope we will improve for the next race. Saying that again, Bridgestone, together with Ferrari at some time decided to compromise performance for safety, which we did. It also happened this year that we had to stop because we simply could not finish the race. You say Rubens in Bahrain, you say Michael in Barcelona. So we learned from that and the tyres we took in Nürburgring, for example, were definitely a compromise. They were not the quickest tyres, but we knew we could finish the race. "

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A link to whole conference with Michelin and Bridgestone:http://f1.racing-live.com/en/h...shtml