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<\/p>\nAfter fourteen continuous seasons at the pinnacle of international motorsport, Bridgestone makes its final Formula 1 appearance at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At the end of this race, Bridgestone will have contested a total of 242 Grands Prix since making its full time F1 entry at the Australian Grand Prix in 1997. There will have been 175 wins, 168 pole positions and eleven drivers\u2019 and constructors\u2019 championships attained with Bridgestone Potenza tyres.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbu Dhabi is likely to be an emotional weekend for everyone at Bridgestone Motorsport as this will be our final race,\u201d says Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Bridgestone Motorsport.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been involved in Bridgestone\u2019s motorsport operations since our very first limited entry in the 1976 and 1977 Japanese Grands Prix and pushed hard for our full time entry which finally came in 1997.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this time Bridgestone has grown enormously as a company, with Formula 1 showcasing our company\u2019s strength and qualities on a world stage to an enormous audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have attended well over 200 races myself and have made so many good relationships with the participants in this wonderful sport. Next year will be very different for me and for all of my Bridgestone Motorsport colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bridgestone\u2019s primary reason for its F1 entry was to enhance its brand awareness, and for this to be effective, Bridgestone\u2019s Formula 1 tyres had to demonstrate strong performance. In charge of the technical development over Bridgestone\u2019s 14 years in F1 is Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development, Hirohide Hamashima.<\/p>\n
\u201cFormula 1 was a big challenge for our company,\u201d says Hamashima.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe entered the sport in 1997 against a very experienced competitor in Goodyear, who had contested so many races before, yet we were able to be competitive in our first season, even when most of the front-running teams were running on our rival\u2019s products. \u201cWe scored points in our first race and the first Bridgestone podium came in our second race. We even came very close to a win with Damon Hill in the Arrows Yamaha at Hungary so this was a very good debut for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodyear left Formula 1 at the end of 1998, leaving Bridgestone as the sole supplier. \u201cOur initial entry to Formula 1 came a year earlier than initially planned and after just two seasons in the sport we had to supply the entire field,\u201d explains Peter Grzelinski Bridgestone Motorsport Service Manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a big challenge for us, but Bridgestone responded well. We had two seasons where we could refine all our practices and methodology before the next challenge came.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2001 Michelin entered Formula 1 as a rival tyre supplier to Bridgestone, and a period of intense competition followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom 2001 to 2006 we battled hard with Michelin,\u201d says Hamashima. \u201cOur engineers in Japan and at the track were dedicated to winning and we learnt so many things in this period.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bridgestone tyres shod the constructors\u2019 and drivers\u2019 champions four times in this period, whilst Michelin tyres equipped the winning constructors\u2019 and drivers\u2019 champions twice. After Michelin\u2019s departure at the end of the 2006 season, Bridgestone was the sole tyre supplier in 2007, before being appointed as the Official Tyre Supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship for 2008 \u2013 2010.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur second period of being the only tyre supplier in Formula 1 was characterised by intensely close championship battles,\u201d says Hamashima.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe concentrated on our quality control to ensure that the tyres supplied to all teams were the same, allowing these close championship battles, which provided a fantastic spectacle for Formula 1 fans around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whilst 2010 is the final season for Bridgestone in Formula 1, the legacy left for the company is enormous.<\/p>\n
\u201cBridgestone has gained significantly from our involvement in this fabulous sport,\u201d says Yasukawa. \u201cBut we have also tried to benefit society as a whole by working with the sport\u2019s governing body, the FIA, with its road safety and environmental campaigns. We hope everyone will enjoy our final Grand Prix as much as we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a9 RIF | Bridgestone Motorsport<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After fourteen continuous seasons at the pinnacle of international motorsport, Bridgestone makes its final Formula 1 appearance at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. At the end of this race, Bridgestone will have contested a total of 242 Grands Prix since making its full time F1 entry at the Australian Grand Prix in 1997. There …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[2120,3],"tags":[2348,390,1099,693,5262,2359,5340,1136,1475,2358],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9481"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9483,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481\/revisions\/9483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}