Monday March 25th, 2002

Japanese tyre manufacturer Bridgestone are determined to fight back at this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix after being outclassed by rivals Michelin in Malaysia.

The French marque scored their first victory of the season at the Sepang circuit eight days ago thanks to Williams' Ralf Schumacher, with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya completing a one-two finish for the Grove-based squad.

The Bridgestone-shod Ferrari of World Champion Michael Schumacher was third, but the Japanese company will introduce two new dry-weather tyres at the Brazilian Grand Prix, in the hope of beating their French rivals.

"While we were pleased that two of our teams collected points in Malaysia, the result was not as good as we hoped for or expected so we go to Brazil determined to do better," said Bridgestone's director of motorsport Hiroshi Yasukawa.

"Last year, drivers on Bridgestone tyres took over the podium and a repeat of that has to be our aim this weekend."

Technical director Hisao Suganuma added: "Brazil is a track that requires superior traction and braking performance, in particular the braking at the entry of the first corner. On top of that, the tyres have to be capable of running in hotter temperatures.

"With all this mind, we focused on these issues to improve our tyre performance with the new specifications for Brazil."

Published at 14:45:36 GMT