Q&A Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations: What are the challenges of Indianapolis?
“Indy is a compromise. There is the infield where you need high downforce, good grip and a softer tyre. Then there is the main straight and the banking where the teams try to reduce their car’s drag to have a very high top speed. With the setups used, the cars will suffer a little bit from lack of downforce in the infield which they try to make up with tyre grip, which means softer compounds. Because of the very high speeds and grip requirements we will use the medium and soft compound Bridgestone Potenzas. It is also essential that the teams maintain the correct tyre pressures, as recommended by Bridgestone. This is important from both a safety and performance point of view – especially where you have a banking which creates forces which are nearly double those experienced when the car is in a horizontal position. There is a little bit of a conflict for what is required as Indianapolis is not a straightforward circuit, and this presents a big challenge.”

Stats & Facts
Number & Spec of tyres brought to Indianapolis: 2,200 (medium and soft)
Pole position time 2006: 1min 10.832secs (M Schumacher, Ferrari)
Fastest race lap 2006: 1min 12.719secs (M Schumacher, Ferrari)
Top three 2006: M Schumacher, F Massa, G Fisichella