Bridgestone will once again abandon its policy of keeping a gap of one tyre compound between its race tyres at four forthcoming Grands Prix, although the change is primarily down to unique track and weather characteristics rather than a failure of their current strategy. For the Hungarian and European Grands Prix in Budapest and Valencia, the softest compounds from their four-tyre range will be used, while the soft and medium compounds will be raced in Belgium and Italy.

The new rule was introduced at the beginning of the season in an attempt to create some variety in otherwise predictable race strategies. Although some races have been affected by differing tyre performances, the change has made little impact on most race results.

As a result of the tight and twisty confines of the Budapest and Valencia tracks, Bridgestone has decided to take the super-soft and soft compounds, as it did for the year's first street race in Monaco, due to the low grip levels expected at both venues. Meanwhile, for the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza, the possibly cool weather conditions in Spa along with the unique characteristics of the Monza Autodromo pushed Bridgestone towards choosing the soft and medium compounds, as was the case in 2007. 2008 saw teams race with the medium and hard compounds at both races.

The changes came about after Bridgestone analysed the data collected from the first eight races and due to this year's cars behaving considerably differently to their 2008 counterparts, on which this year's tyre allocation strategy was based. The softer compound tyre will continue to be marked with a green ring around its shoulder, as will the wet tyre.

Although not yet confirmed, it's likely a return to the old scheme of having a step between the compounds will return later in the season, likely for the Japanese and Brazilian Grands Prix at the least. Singapore and Abu Dhabi could see the super-soft and soft in use.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone (Director of Motorsport Tyre Development):
“We have made the change to the tyre allocation concept based on the data we have collected from races so far this year combined with our knowledge of the tracks we visit for these races. The cars of 2009 are very different to those used last year so we have learnt a lot so far this year, and they do use their tyres differently from before.

“Hungary is a circuit where the characteristics demand our softest tyres. This is also true for street courses, and we used the softest allocation earlier in the year at Monaco, and will again in Valencia. In Spa the weather temperatures can be quite cool, so the hard compound could have caused difficulties, and the super soft would have been too soft for this track, so that means the allocation of medium and soft is obvious. In Monza the hard compound would have given too big a difference between it and the soft, so we will bring the soft and the medium.”

Tyre compound allocations:
Hungarian Grand Prix (Budapest): Super-soft & Soft
European Grand Prix (Valencia): Super-soft & Soft
Belgian Grand Prix (Spa-Francorchamps): Soft & Medium
Italian Grand Prix (Monza): Soft & Medium