Formula One news

Bridgestone ready to go anti-clockwise

Formula One heads to Turkey for the fifth round of the season where Bridgestone's hard and medium compound Potenza tyres will face the tricky turn eight, as well as the rest of the difficult-to-master 5.34 km track

The first anti- clockwise track on the calendar this season, it has a mix of almost every type of corner that is seen on a grand prix circuit. Only a small portion of the track is on level ground, the majority being either uphill or downhill to present drivers with a real roller-coaster ride. Turn eight is one of the rare pieces of level ground on the circuit, however, but it presents the biggest challenge over the course of a lap. A triple-apex left-hander, the corner has a downhill entry which levels off and keeps on turning left until it has helped generate some of the highest G forces of the year, putting the tyres, cars and drivers under high loads. 

Hirohide Hamashima, Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development, said: "Istanbul has a wide range of different corner types and is a very difficult circuit to master in terms of car set-up and maximising tyre potential. In Istanbul we face the highest G forces we see all season so we are bringing the hardest tyres in our range for this race. Historically, we have seen hot temperatures in Turkey, and the change to May should mean slightly lower temperatures. Last year we did see some drivers experience problems with their use of our tyres, so we have made changes to the tyre construction to minimise the chances of this happening again. This circuit is not only a challenge for our tyres, drivers face a tough race too as the circuit is not clockwise like most of the tracks on the calendar."

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