Think Before You Drive
13/10/2005
Michael Schumacher - Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Tyre Development - Bridgestone Motorsport Michael, what do you think of Shanghai?
MS: I just arrived yesterday. It's a very lively town.
Ferrari established its partnership with Bridgestone in 1999, and since then has won the constructors' championship six times and the drivers' championship five times. You have been using Bridgestone tyres for most of your career. Why are tyres so important in F1 racing? MS: Well, imagine driving a road car without tyres. It wouldn't look very good! In racing a lot of the time we have had a single tyre manufacturer, and in these days it was not important how good a tyre was, because everybody had the same. But since the days of competition, when our competitor arrived in F1, it has obviously been very important to produce better grip than the opponent, and achieve higher cornering speeds, achieve better braking, and better safety. In this respect it is very important to have a strong partner, and only because we had a strong partner in all this years we have been able to win so much.
Mr Hamashima, how are F1 tyres actually developed, and how has Mr Schumacher contributed to Bridgestone's F1 tyre development?
HH: I'll answer the first question. We're using Bridgestone's ?total technology' for F1, so that's the R&D department, the technical department, the design department and all the other departments who cooperate in our F1 development. Firstly we have a few hundred specifications in laboratory tests, and then we screen a few specs for testing at the track. The final decision is made by Michael Schumacher, and we bring a few specs to the track for racing. The answer to the second question, it's a very enormous contribution from Michael. He gave us and gives us so much knowledge and so many suggestions for developing tyres. Especially he suggests which part we have to focus on. So it is very important for the engineers.
For both of you, there have been more than 100 races since Ferrari used Bridgestone tyres in F1. Which race made the biggest impression on you, and why? MS: Wow. As you said, it is more than 100 races. I don't know the number of victories, but I think it's more than 50 that we have been achieving together. It's difficult to take one in particular, because we have such a great relationship and working situation. It's a very high rate of development and it was often very impressive of our partner Bridgestone in terms of how much they reacted. Again as I've said before, the success didn't come by luck. We worked very hard together, Bridgestone and Ferrari, for all these years. Not that we're not working hard now, it's just sometimes things are a bit difficult, but we're working very hard to obviously come back.
HH: Also I have so many memories of winning with Michael, but especially this year the US Grand Prix was impressive, because we showed our safety concept to the global audience, so it is one of the fantastic results.
Mr Schumacher, what do you think is the key to Ferrari and Bridgestone's joint success, and how have the technical collaborations between the two developed over the years?
MS: Obviously we came from another tyre manufacturer to work together with Bridgestone. I think the first year was '99 that we worked together. And in those days we were just one of many teams. But due to Jean Todt and the Bridgestone representatives, it was very quick and very clear that there is a very good relationship and understanding of the future ideas, prospects, developments, and so on. And it didn't take very long to build up not only a very professional working relationship, but a very friendly relationship, together with the Bridgestone people. It's mainly because they're good people. Hama-san is one of the examples - he's a very good person. And there are many of these very good engineers, with a very high level of knowledge, and this was the reason we established a great partnership.
The change of regulations this year had a big impact on the race results for Ferrari and Bridgestone. What is your determination to win the Shanghai GP?
MS: I think our determination is unbroken. We still would like to win as many races as possible, but as I've said before, sometimes you have to have setbacks. We have had too much success. The first Grand Prix in Shanghai, which was very historic, was won by a Bridgestone driver, my team mate Rubens. He did a great effort last year and Bridgestone did a fantastic job last year. I would like to do a similar thing this year, but it's a little bit more difficult for us. Nevertheless, we never give up.
Mr Hamashima, what is the strategy to return to the podium in this weekend's Shanghai GP?
HH: Like Michael said, it is not easy, this situation, but Michael tested so hard three weeks ago. Then he found one of the good specifications, so we brought that specification here, so I hope this specification will help us back to the podium again.
Can you tell us how the Bridgestone teams will be organised next year?
HH: Well, of course we are working more with Ferrari, and additionally Williams, and most likely Toyota will join us. So we hope that with the data from the teams we can share everything so we can make development more quickly.
Mr Schumacher, do you support the safety campaign of the FIA Foundation and Bridgestone?
MS: Absolutely. First of all I believe in campaigns such as this, which transmit a lot of important information to people such as checking your tyre pressures, checking your tyres, wearing your safety belt, and so on. It's vital. I have been doing those campaigns together with the FIA already in previous years. I'm very fortunate to be in a position to share my success with many other people in this direction, and use my fame to talk to everybody who likes to listen and who likes to understand my message to look after those things to save your life. Not only save your life, but save the life of your kids, save the life of your passenger. Sometimes it's just a few seconds that can change your life. In this respect I'm 100% behind all these efforts, these ideas, so I look forward to helping as much as I can.
Mr Hamashima, if the same kind of safety action is carried out in F1, what kind of test is necessary?
HH: Almost the same as road cars. The most important thing is checking the inner pressure. Because an F1 car is very, very quick we would like to stop the aquaplaning phenomenon. And also wear is a very important issue this year, because the regulations changed dramatically.
Mr Schumacher, when driving your own car what safety checks do you perform before driving?
MS: It's natural that you look after yourself. I would be very stupid if I made people believe in something that I don't do myself. I would never run without a safety belt, I would never put my kids without a safety belt, nor my passengers. It's very vital to check your tyres. I think it's very normal, in particular to me being a race driver. How you store your luggage for example is another very important point, plus the headrest, seat position, and so on. There are many things I look after personally, and again as much as people like to listen and do this in future, I think you can help yourself and other people.
Please give a message to all Chinese drivers.
MS: First of all the biggest message is whoever thinks he is good or a better driver compared to the others, should not use this to show off, but should use it to protect. Running in normal roads, I don't try to show I'm Michael Schumacher, I drive very carefully, and I drive within the traffic situation, and the environment, and try to protect my people around me rather than put them in danger. I think this is one very important message. The other one is simply to use a little tool which is able to show your tyre pressure and have the ability to check the profile of the tyres, how much tyre you have left on your car, which becomes very vital in the moment of rain and aquaplaning. In this respect just a few seconds, take your time, and you have a lifetime from it afterwards.
Do you want to be first next year, how will the V8 engines affect things, and do you expect any better performance with Bridgestone next year than this year?
MS: We want to keep on winning, no doubt. It's obviously not very nice not being in the position to win. Next year we have new regulations with the V8 engines, which sort of shuffles things around a little bit, but then I wouldn't expect too many dramatic effects in terms of positions. It is really down to us, to our partner, in collaboration, to solve our problems and to be competitive next year again. And we believe in it. Mr Hamashima, what are the characteristics of this track, and what kinds of tyres are made specifically for each race?
HH: The Shanghai circuit is one of the most interesting circuits. Firstly the surface is very smooth, so this demands a tyre of a very soft compound. However this circuit has very high-speed corners and also slow corners, so the test for the tyres is very severe. We need some sort of compromise between soft and hard compounds. This circuit demands so many things, not only from the tyres, but also car potential and set-up.
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