OCTOBER 15, 2004

Toyota and Bridgestone

The word on the street in F1 circles is that Panasonic Toyota Racing will switch to Bridgestone tyres next year, after a year which has been spent struggling on Michelins. Bridgestone and Ferrari have won 15 of the 17 races to date with Michelin picking up only two wins and while the battle has often been close there is a widespread feeling among the teams that overall the Bridgestones are marginally better than the Michelins, the performance of the Saubers in recent races underlining this point. Toyota is also in a position to know a lot about the difference between the two tyres because it has just employed Jarno Trulli, who has spent the year on Michelins and is now able to compare the tyres with Bridgestone.