Formula One news

Newly shaped 2010 tyre in pipeline

Bridgestone is expected to reveal a new tyre for next year in order to encourage better handling from the new-look cars, which also vary massively aerodynamically and are thus a very different challenge to drive in comparison with those seen last year.

"We are discussing it with the FIA," said Bridgestone's head of motorsport tyre development, Hirohide Hamashima. "We are undecided at the moment, but the idea is for a narrower front tyre, as the teams require Bridgestone to make the cars balanced.

Narrower front tyres were last seen during the 1997 season

"In the winter we tested a 2010 prototype tyre, a bit narrower, which made the car balance better than the current tyres. But it was not narrow enough for 2010 because they have to use KERS, so they asked us to think about that." The KERS device, anything between 30 and 40 kilogrammes (approximately 4 to 6 stone) in weight, adds load onto tyres and so Formula One's sole tyre manufacturer is developing its products accordingly.

"At the moment, we have proposed an even narrower front tyre," Hamashima added. "A wider rear tyre is much more expensive, though, because we would have to revise the machinery and other things; we had narrower fronts in 1997, so we already have the machines to do that."

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