Bridgestone introduces new tyres at Imola.

New specifications of wet and dry Bridgestone tyres made their race weekend debut at the Imola circuit in Italy today. The initially damp track dried out quickly giving Bridgestone's teams the opportunity to try two new specifications prior to Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.

Bridgestone has introduced a softer dry compound and a new harder wet tyre, both of which were tried today by Michael Schumacher, winner at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in 2000 and who ended the day quickest with a 1:25.096.

His Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello was second fastest. The Ferraris had also led the morning practice followed neatly by the pairings of West McLaren Mercedes and Jordan Honda. In the afternoon, Mika Hakkinen was 4th fastest behind Ralf Schumacher in the BMW Williams. But David Coulthard, winner in Brazil two weeks ago, stopped in his West McLaren Mercedes after completing just 24 laps. Olivier Panis was 5th quickest, with his BAR Honda teammate Jacques Villeneuve in 8th place.

Ross Brawn, Ferrari Technical Director said: "The changing conditions allowed us to do some good work with both the wet and dry tyres so it was a productive day. The cars went well in the wet this morning and this afternoon when the track had dried out. We have a good idea which tyres we want to run tomorrow. Even though we do not know what the other teams were running in terms of fuel load and tyres, I am sure qualifying will be close."

Malcolm Oastler BAR's Technical Director added: "Considering we had one dry session and one wet session we got quite a lot done today. We ran four different tyres - both dry specifications, the intermediates and one wet - which was good and we managed to do some set-up work with the car as well. It seems to be more competitive than our typical Friday performance. Our aim is obviously to keep improving our overall performance on last year's - that is where the pressure is. The improvements we have made do appear to be showing in the performance. Both our drivers are quick in the wet and we are fairly well drilled in swapping tyres so whatever happens with the weather tomorrow and on Sunday we are ready."

Hisao Suganuma - Technical Manager for Bridgestone Motorsport - concluded: "Some of our teams tried both the dry tyre compounds and some tried both the wets. Everybody used the intermediates. It was a good day for trying the wet tyres but conditions like this are not very helpful for comparing dry tyres. Although it stopped raining in the morning, the track was still damp. Even in the second session, the track was too green with not enough rubber laid down. The new softer compound is designed to give better grip through the corners and on the gradients. However, we expect some drivers will still prefer the harder compound - it depends on personal choice and how they want the car to feel."