New tire marks introduced by Bridgestone
Last year, the 'hard' and 'soft' compounds on offer at grands prix were differentiated by painting the inside of one of the four grooves white, so that the type of tire being used by a driver on the circuit is visibly apparent to spectators.
With the return this season of slick tires, however, the Japanese manufacturer has been contemplating what method to use in 2009 and beyond.
It was speculated that full colored sidewalls were considered, and various other methods have previously been tested, including different colored rings – including white and purple – on the sidewalls.
But perhaps the best solution so far, which with just over 40 days to go until Melbourne must surely be the frontrunner, was in evidence as five teams on Wednesday circulated at the Spanish test circuit in Jerez de la Frontera.
As seen on the cars of Nelson Piquet (Renault) and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), the solution involves the use of thin green painted lines circling both the inner and outer sidewalls on the front tires, and the inner sidewalls on the rear.
The effectiveness of the solution was apparent when the colors could easily be distinguished both when viewing the cars from the side as well as from the rear.
Also spotted trackside at Jerez on Wednesday were Red Bull's Dietrich Mateschitz, his business partner and friend Gerhard Berger, and team advisor David Coulthard, as Mark Webber seemed to enjoy a trouble-free return from injury at the wheel of the new RB5.
02/10/09 Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone has introduced new tire marks at Jerez this week to clearly show the fans the difference between the soft and hard compounds supplied to the Formula 1 teams. The tires in Jerez are marked with a green line at the side of the tires.
In 2008 the soft compounds were marked with a white line in one of the grooves but since Formula 1 cars will use slick tires going forward there are no longer any grooves for a white line.