Zoom Only Rosberg started on the super-soft option tyre

Felipe Massa won the 12th round of the championship from pole position after using a soft, soft, super-soft tyre strategy in the first ever European Grand Prix on the streets of Valencia in Spain.

Massa clinched the win in Bridgestone’s 200th Grand Prix since its full-time Formula One entry in 1997. It was Massa’s ninth career victory and fourth this season. He crossed the line 5.6 seconds ahead of McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Robert Kubica finished in third for BMW Sauber.

Track conditions at the new street course in Valencia were very good with the event blessed by clear blue skies and fine sunshine. The race’s fastest lap, a 1min 38.708secs, was set by Massa on lap 36 using the soft compound.

Hirohide Hamashima, Tyre Development Director
“Congratulations to the city of Valencia for providing Formula One with such a good race venue. Today we saw a strong race which was exciting on this very high speed street course. We must congratulate Felipe Massa and Ferrari for winning the 200th Grand Prix in which Bridgestone have participated since 1997. There were many results worthy of mention today. Both Toyotas scored points and both Toro Rosso cars finished in the top ten, so well done to those teams."

"Both the soft and super soft compounds worked very well here, which is a credit to our engineers who selected this allocation for this new race destination. Even in the high temperatures seen today at this fast track, the super soft was capable of being used in a one-stop soft - super soft strategy as seen by Timo Glock. We now start the count towards our next hundred races.”

E.A. © CAPSIS International