By Phil Huff (29/09/2003)
September 29 2003

Bridgestone Motorsport had a hugely successful US Grand Prix today. Not only did Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's Michael Schumacher drive one of his greatest races to win in commanding style but he was joined on the podium by fellow Bridgestone runner, Sauber Petronas' Heinz-Harald Frentzen. This afternoon's race was plagued by intermittent rain showers - conditions which the Bridgestone runners relished and fully capitalised on. Schumacher now holds a nine point lead in the drivers' championship whilst the Ferrari team have reclaimed their constructors' championship lead over BMW Williams. This weekend was a busy one for Bridgestone in the US with the manufacturer also present as the sole tyre supplier of the CART race in Miami.

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager at Bridgestone Motorsport, said "I'm delighted to see Michael win here. It's given him a good margin in the championship battle. I'm also pleased to see that we could play a vital role in the success of all our teams today. Sauber had a superb performance with Heinz-Harald claiming a third place podium and Nick Heidfeld was right behind in fifth, closely followed by Giancarlo Fisichella in seventh. Tenth and eleventh was also very creditable for Minardi. And at one stage I thought BAR's Jenson Button was going to win, he had a great race and it was a shame not to see him on the podium. To see Jenson leading for such a long period really showed the strength of the Bridgestone wet tyres and the advantage we had over our rivals today. What was also clearly evident was that our teams could stay out longer on the Bridgestone wets even as the track dried, enabling them to switch to dry tyres later. This ability to connect the wet tyres to dry tyres is very important. But even so, Michael was also the fastest man out there in the dry which showed the strength of the Bridgestone package. The championship is still open so we will be pushing hard to give all our teams our best at our home round in Suzuka."

Ross Brawn, Technical Director at Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, commented "A fantastic race today - Michael was superb. We called it wrong at the first stop when we really should have changed to wet tyres. Our forecast was only for a light shower but it was heavier than expected. There was a window of time when we weren't so good but the rest of the time our car was superb both in dry and full wet conditions. The tyres were very good today: with the exception of when the track was just a little greasy, the Bridgestones were the best tyres out there."

Willy Rampf, Technical Director for Sauber Petronas, added "To be on the podium here in Indianapolis was really more than we expected. The race was very difficult because of the strategy but it worked out perfectly and the Bridgestone tyres performed very well, they were one of the main reasons we did so well."