Bridgestone look to restore Ferrari pride

Bridgestone have vowed to pull out all the stops to help Ferrari bounce back on home territory at Imola this weekend.

The Japanese company’s tyres suffered in the Bahrain heat three weeks ago and contributed to a disappointing debut for Ferrari’s new car.

But, with five consecutive title doubles with Ferrari under their belt, Bridgestone are not willing to accept second best and expect a quick change in fortunes at Imola after extensive testing.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Bridgestone’s director of motorsport, said: “The first three rounds of this season have produced some interesting results.

“While they may have been great for the spectators, they were not quite what we had hoped for.

“However, we do believe that the Ferrari-Bridgestone package is growing stronger each day and there is also a huge amount of potential yet to come.

“Our technical personnel have been working hard with our teams in the past couple of weeks and we fully expect to see a competitive performance from them this weekend.

“For Ferrari and Minardi, in particular, a good result is important on their home territory.”