Bridgestone to use ‘white groove’ concept

(GMM) Bridgestone appears to have abandoned its idea of making the compounds of its tires more visibly distinguishable by painting large red dots on the side walls.

Instead, the Japanese supplier is likely to color the inside of one groove per tire white; a solution tested extensively by the Super Aguri team during Wednesday's testing at Sepang and probably to debut in the Malaysian grand prix.

It is understood that the sidewall dots concept was finally abandoned because, no matter the size or color of the marking, they are difficult to spot when the tire is turning at speed.

Interestingly, after the outside grooves were painted white on Alex Wurz's Williams on Tuesday, the Super Aguri of Takuma Sato featured tires with the inside grooves painted.

On another hot, sunny and humid day of testing near Kuala Lumpur, Kimi Raikkonen set an impressive pace, ahead of Williams' Wurz and eleven other runners.

The test concludes on Thursday.