Hamashima's analysis continued to hold true: odd years spell trouble, while even years herald success. After the jinxed season of 2003, 2004 was a return to form for us. Bridgestone dominated the year, winning 15 out of the 18 rounds, and Michael Schumacher had already sewn up the Drivers' Championship by the 14th round in Belgium.
Bridgestone-Ferrari dominate the season
The 2003 season was one setback after another. However, it did spur us to begin preparations early for 2004. Notable among the measures we took was the new concept tyre chosen out of the 2,000 tyres we tested with Ferrari before the Italian GP. When we looked back and calmly analysed our performance in 2003, we could see that the season clearly demonstrated both our strengths and our weaknesses. This realisation, shared by all the Bridgestone team, helped weld us into a much closer and more effective organisation.
So, what weaknesses had 2003 revealed? We did poorly on circuits with a combination of smooth surfaces and slow corners, in other words, races requiring a soft compound. After analysing those results, we began developing a soft compound that would be more heat resistant.
In addition, we changed the shape of our tyres. Until now, it had been easy to tell Michelin and Bridgestone front tyres apart just by appearance - theirs had square shaped shoulders, while ours were more rounded. From this year on, we adopted a more square shoulder design. The major reason was that this allowed the tyres to provide stronger damping forces and faster turn-in.
At the same time, Michelin were moving to a more rounded shape for their front tyres. As Hamashima put it: "In the end, both sides' tyres came to look very similar. Silhouetted against the setting sun, even I often couldn't tell them apart."
Ferrari changed their car too, moving the weight distribution on the legendary F2004 from rear to front loading in order to match our new front tyre style.
This Bridgestone-Ferrari combination again proved its strength. Michael Schumacher won the first five races of the season. Michelin fought back at Monaco, but then Schumacher took the next seven in a row. In a reprise of our sweeping victory in 2002, by the 13th round in Hungary Ferrari had secured the Constructors' Championship, and by the 14th round the Drivers' title belonged to Schumacher.
Excess focus on winning today invites problems tomorrow
Our overwhelming strength this year had the Constructors' title safe for Ferrari by the 13th round. Schumacher confirmed his Drivers' title in the 14th round in Belgium, even though he didn't win that race. For Hamashima, the loss in Belgium was a bad omen for the coming year.
"When I looked back on it later, toward the end of that season we were already seeing glimpses of what 2005 would be like, for example Schumacher's failure to win the Belgium GP, which should have been a walkover for him. Instead, it was taken by Raikkonen in a McLaren - shod with Michelins. That's another failure burned in my memory."
Even though the titles were in the bag, Ferrari's appetite for victory continued unabated and once again they kept trying to win every race. Of course, this meant that they put off beginning preparations for the next season. Michelin began a strong comeback from mid-season, and this also encouraged Ferrari to focus only on the current fight. With both Ferrari and Bridgestone devoting all our development efforts to immediate victory right until the end of this season, we were really storing up trouble for the coming year.
Hamashima: "We just kept putting off the preparations for 2005. This would not turn out well."
Tussles behind the scenes
If the track is the stage where the tyre wars play out before the public, then the paddock can be thought of as the backstage arena when we tussle secretly to gain advantage. And indeed, the fight is almost as fierce behind the scenes as out on the track. Suganuma was on the front line, as our manager. "I can laugh about it now, but it was deadly serious then," he says as he talks about the "information warfare" between Bridgestone and Michelin, the most well known tussle being when we brought up the issue of Michelin's suspicious front tyre tread.
"After one of the races in 2003, when we got a look at the Michelin tyres after the race it seemed to us that they had a wider contact patch than was allowed. We took accurate measurements of the tyres from a front view using photos we had been given and when we did, we found that the tread was indeed wider. It seemed that although the unused tyres met the regulations, after the race they didn't - the tread had become wider during the race. At that time, the FIA checked tyre size before races but not after them. Because we raised this matter, from mid season the FIA decided to start measuring tyres after each race."
There was also a constant battle of wits going on to keep the other side in the dark. For example, we naturally wanted to check what specifications the other was using. The regulations stated that all tyres used in a race must be tagged with an FIA issued barcode sticker, and embossed with the manufacturer's specifications. These specifications would be recorded for comparison later with data taken during the race.
"To comply with the rules and at the same time to keep us from deciphering their specs, Michelin devised a complex multi-layered alphanumeric code, embossed in tiny letters."
When you think about it now, such stratagems seem like a game, but at the time both sides were in deadly earnest. Everyone was completely devoted to getting our teams on the winner's podium, whatever it took.
