Bridgestone announces tire changes for 2009

Aside from the noticeable change to a slick tire surface, Bridgestone has taken into account other changes to their new tires for 2009. Among them will be the addition of a green band on the edge of the sidewalls to distinguish the softer compound, and a non-consecutive compound allocation for each race as well.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone's director of motorsport tire development, explained the changes on their official site: "From our perspective we have changed our allocation strategy so that we can bring non-consecutive allocations to races. The compounds will not only vary in terms of compound hardness, but also working range."

"We have tried to have one tire which has a quick warm-up and delivers a fast lap time immediately, and the other tire which has a higher working range, so will not deliver immediate fast times, but gives very consistent and durable performance when it is at its operating temperature."

Compounds for the first five GP's of the 2009 season are as follows:

Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne): Super Soft, Medium
Malaysian Grand Prix (Sepang): Soft, Hard
Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai): Super Soft, Medium
Bahrain Grand Prix (Sakhir): Super Soft, Medium
Spanish Grand Prix (Barcelona): Soft, Hard