Despite an indifferent performance at Magny Cours, Ferrari hopes to be competitive at Sunday’s British Grand Prix – an event the Scuderia has won for the past three years. Expected changeable weather conditions might favour the Bridgestone team.
Despite an indifferent performance at Magny Cours, Ferrari hopes to be competitive at Sunday’s British Grand Prix – an event the Scuderia has won for the past three years. Expected changeable weather conditions might favour the Bridgestone team.
Ferrari on Wednesday concluded a three-day test session at Monza, where test driver Luca Badoer conducted tyre and aerodynamic tests at the wheel of an F2005, and completed 104 laps. Heading to Silverstone, Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher said he was looking forward to racing at the event that the team won in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
“I love racing here, though I cannot be totally sure how it will go. The race at Magny Cours led us astray,” the German said. “After our showing on Friday last week we thought we would have had a better chance. So, now I am a bit careful about making predictions. There are new rules this year and making predictions is harder; at least this is what has emerged from the first half of the season.”
“The Silverstone circuit calls for very good balance, even better than at Nürburgring. Everything related to the set up has to be in perfect harmony. However, reaching this objective is the stimulus for new challenges. Another positive aspect of Silverstone is that there are lots real Formula One fans and this, naturally, pleases me. Without a doubt, we intend to give the fans a good show. In this case, this means that we will be racing for the win,” he added.
Michelin boss Pierre Dupasquier this week said that Silverstone’s high-speed corners and rough asphalt demanded hard compound tyres. “This is one of the most challenging venues of the season from our perspective,” the Frenchman said.
However, the early weather forecast for Friday through to race day says an overcast weekend – with a persistent threat of showers and drizzle – is likely for Silverstone. Temperatures in the low twenties are expected with the highest probability of rain on Saturday.
Bridgestone will be supplying two grooved dry weather specifications per Bridgestone team and the same wet and extreme wet weather specification for Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi.
“At Silverstone, the weather can be a bit of a lottery and we could have anything from 35 degrees on track, if sunny, to cool and wet weather. Whatever the weather though, we’ll be ready,” said Bridgetone technical manager Hisao Suganuma.
“A good lap time, however, comes from the high speed part of the track and the stability of the tyres at Silverstone will be important for car handling. The track surface is quite abrasive and because there are several high-speed corners, tyres have been chosen from the medium to hard end of the compound range. We are expecting to be competitive at Silverstone having tested there a few weeks ago and got some good indications of which tyres to choose.”