Bridgestone boss reveals emergency situation

(11-Jul-98) - Bridgestone's motorsport technical director Hirohide
Hamashima has admitted that Michael Schumacher's win for Ferrari in Magny
Cours forced an "emergency situation" on the Japanese tyre
company in a bid to recover.

The revival of Ferrari, partly thanks to improvements made to Goodyear's
tyres, made Bridgestone realise just what they were up against if McLaren
were not going to lose the iniative in the title chase.

They manufactured a brand new tyre in just five days and its
competitiveness has been proved by McLaren's early weekend dominance of the
British Grand Prix.

"Normally we decide on the specification of the tyres we intend to use
one month before each race and it is only when we have an emergency
situation, like we did here, that we need to change our plan,"
explained Hamashima.

"It was important to do our best here, because Britain is the home of
Bridgestone in Europe, and also of our leading teams. There was also the
factor that we had suffered two consecutive defeats. That is why we decided
to make this brand new tyre."

But Bridgestone's efforts could be wasted if, as expected, the storm clouds
roll in and Silverstone is washed out with rain. Hamashima conceded that
they have not tested enough in the wet.

"We haven't done any extensive wet weather testing here," he
said. "We have therefore brought our current specification wet tyres,
while Goodyear has brought a brand new wet tyre. If it rains this weekend,
it should be a very interesting battle."

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