Bridgestone Motorsport's Extra Soft tyres...

[Sparky]

...will make their 2000 racing debut at this weekend's European Grand Prix at the famous Nürburgring in Germany.

Bridgestone Motorsport's Technical Manager Yoshihiko Ichikawa said; "The Extra Soft tyres will work particularly well at the Nürburgring as it is quite a smooth circuit and the track surface is less abrasive and severe unlike Silverstone, Barcelona and Spa. The softer rubber is more beneficial due to the lower temperatures encountered at this track. We do not expect all the teams to jump at the chance to use the Extra Soft compound. The tyre provides extra grip and traction but some teams may experience increased levels of understeer when running such a soft compound".

I'm very interested to see how these tyres last. The problem with grooved tyres is that the tread blocks move under load and create heat. The compound of the grooved tyres was made harder to reduce this, and to stop the tyres going 'off' so quickly.

With the return to soft compounds, this could create some faster laps initialy, but if the track race-temps rise higher than expected (Or higher than qualifying at least), we could see some outrageous drifting or extended braking.

Or am I hoping for too much?