By BMW Sauber F1 Team
April 12 2007

Due to the sand blown on to the track from the desert, high tyre wear is expected at the "Bahrain International Circuit" this weekend. However, the tyre specs Bridgestone will take along to the event allow for this.
As was the case in Malaysia, Bridgestone will provide the teams with the medium and hard compounds for the race at Bahrain's 5.412-kilometre circuit. To ensure that the teams don't experience any problems, Bridgestone opted to do without the soft compounds.

Kees van de Grint, Head of Track Engineering Operations, explains that Bridgestone benefited from the data the teams gathered over the course of the two tests held in Bahrain during the pre-season preparations, when it came to selecting the tyre specs for the GP weekend. "Testing at a venue where we are going to race allows us, as sole tyre supplier, to confirm that we have made the correct predictions from our theoretical data about which tyre compounds to use," he says.

A total of 2,200 tyres were shipped to the desert emirate this week. And again, the medium compound will be marked with a white line in one of the grooves. Van de Grint is happy with this identification marker, which made its debut in Malaysia. "They could be seen well by spectators and the media. On television, they showed up particularly well on the onboard cameras," he said.