Bridgestone Motorsport is raring to get to Shanghai next week for the inaugural China Grand Prix, round sixteen of the FIA Formula One World Championship. Bridgestone's engineers have spent the last week testing with three of its teams - Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro in Jerez and Mugello, Sauber Petronas also in Jerez and Jordan Ford at Silverstone – in preparation for the forthcoming event. A brand new track, the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit is a fascinating combination of long, fast straights and challenging corners, all designed to test the drivers, cars and tyres alike.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport: Last weekend's race at Monza, in front of Ferrari's home crowd was one of the best races we have seen this year and I was delighted to see Rubens Barrichello on the top step of the podium. Bridgestone and Ferrari have been extremely dominant this year and we are now very much looking forward to visiting Shanghai for the inaugural China Grand Prix next week, where we hope our hosts will be rewarded with another thrilling race. This is an extremely exciting opportunity for the F1 community and for the Bridgestone Corporation too, it represents a wonderful opportunity to display our technical expertise in such an important market. And finally, I would like to wish the Shanghai Circuit, the race organisers and all the authorities involved in this latest addition to the F1 calendar, the very best of luck for next week.

1,400 Bridgestone Potenza Formula One tyres will be sent directly from Bridgestone's F1 production facility in Tokyo, Japan by air freight to the Shanghai International Circuit. Comprising of five different specifications of dry weather tyres, one wet weather and one extreme weather tyre, Bridgestone has chosen its tyres very carefully for the Shanghai circuit.

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager: Shanghai is the second of two new circuits on the calendar this year, and like Bahrain, it will present us with another unique challenge. We have been busy studying the track layout, which seems to be similar in style to aspects of the Indianapolis and Sepang circuits. Turn 13, for example, of the Shanghai circuit is a long sweeping corner followed by a long fast straight. This is similar in style to Indianapolis, albeit without the banking. Turns 7 and 8, the S bend section, is similar to the Sepang circuit layout. All in all, the Shanghai circuit is an exciting looking track which will require a high level of mechanical grip from the tyres. Due to the long straights and fast corners, the generation of heat in the tyres will also be an issue. Furthermore, we expect temperatures to be relatively warm and if the sun is out we could experience ambient temperatures of approximately 30 degrees Celsius and track temperatures of approximately 50 degrees Celsius. Taking these factors into account and the expected smooth track surface, we have chosen five dry weather specifications with compounds from our medium to soft range. After our success in the Middle East earlier this year, where our pre race preparation and simulation work with our teams paid dividends on a brand new track, we have strong hopes for this race too.