Acceptance in Europe is key world leadership

We had now firmly established our brand in the US. But for Bridgestone it was even more important to gain recognition in Europe, the scene of so much automobile history and the birthplace of so many famous marques.
To achieve our goal of becoming the world's number one tyre manufacturer, Bridgestone had to become a household name in Europe. More than just achieving brand awareness, we had to capture the hearts of Europe's car enthusiasts. We would have gained no value from our racing activities unless European auto manufacturers started fitting our tyres to their cars.
We had already succeeded in becoming the first Japanese tyres equipped as standard by Porsche and Ferrari, but this was not enough in itself to secure the brand awareness we wanted. Everyone involved with Bridgestone Motorsport was convinced that F1 would be the ultimate weapon to promote our technological strengths and secure brand name recognition, but management was reluctant to give us the go ahead because of the enormous costs involved.

1996 - The Bridgestone board commits to F1

" F1 could be a major tool to put Bridgestone on the world stage." These words from Bridgestone's founder Shojiro Ishibashi had become the core of the conviction so deeply held by Yasukawa and his Bridgestone Motorsport department, and by Harada and his technical staff.
It was no longer a question of enthusiasts simply wanting to take part in racing - the objectives of F1 involvement were now clearly laid out as gaining world awareness for the Bridgestone name and global appreciation of our technology.
Yasukawa comments: "We saw we would never achieve anything unless we first got the car manufacturers and users to appreciate the true value of our tyres. Most customers buy new tyres when they get their car inspected and the mechanic tells them the old ones are too worn. And the most common instruction is "same again" or "fit some cheaper ones." To capture these customers' business we need to push the technical superiority of our tyres, to promote their high performance, or increasingly these days, their environmental performance. I strongly backed F1 participation as the ideal way to both build status for our brand and to display our technical strengths."
Harada, armed with feedback from the secret Mugen tests, persuaded President Kaizaki that taking the company into F1 racing would be essential if we wanted to increase our market share in Europe. Telling him "If this project fails, I will sack you" Kaizaki personally committed himself.
In February, 1996, President Kaizaki went before the Board of Directors and pleaded with them to agree to Bridgestone entering F1. The huge expense of the project naturally raised many objections, but the passionate conviction shown by the President won over the Board. It was decided that Bridgestone would enter F1 racing two years later, starting from the 1998 season. The reason Bridgestone management had formally turned down the F1 proposal by the motorsports department after we supplied tyres for the 1976 and 1977 F1 races at Fuji Speedway was that there was too great a gap in corporate capacity between Bridgestone and GoodYyear, the world-leading company that was then the main F1 tyre supplier.
After our European F2 involvement in the late 1980s, Yasukawa had told President Ishibashi of his heartfelt feeling that Bridgestone must not become local in our thinking and limited in outlook - it was essential for us to continue taking on overseas challenges. Ishibashi refused at the time because he saw that as a corporation we were not yet ready for challenges such as F1, and such projects could only be considered for the long term.
But now things were different. By 1995, Bridgestone's profits were soaring and having captured 19% of the global market, we had in fact become the world's leading tyre manufacturer. At last we could be confident in our corporate ability to take on the F1 challenge.
Bridgestone's ability to make this decision to enter F1 was grounded in the long years of effort by the entire company workforce, the efforts that built us into a truly global scale corporation.

1996 tyre tests using current F1 machines

The top management of Mugen kept telling us that we absolutely had to start F1 racing. It was their cooperation and Harada's determination that led to our engagement in the series of trials beginning in 1989 using both Mugen test cars and ex-F1 machines. This in turn led to Bridgestone's 1996 official decision to enter F1.
Our development staff wanted Yasukawa to arrange for them to carry out tyre tests using current F1 machines, and so he asked Tom Walkinshaw, his old friend from our European F2 racing days, when Tom had provided tyre services for us.
Tom was running the Arrows F1 Team, which was under contract to Goodyear, but he told Yasukawa that he could arrange it. Goodyear agreed to let Arrows stop tests with their tyres and use ours instead, as long as Goodyear continued as supplier of their race tyres. This was extraordinarily generous and broadminded of Goodyear, and also of Tom who negotiated this agreement for us.
Profoundly thanking Goodyear for their generosity, we began tests with Tom's team. Tom also provided the drivers, who included the 1996 F1 World Champion Damon Hill.

Tests provide highly positive feedback

Tests with actual F1 machines clearly demonstrated our ability to take on the F1 challenge.
Our rival Goodyear had been sole F1 tyre supplier, and it was probably due to this lack of competition to spur performance that when we fitted our test tyres on F1 cars, we found they were already delivering the same or better times as Goodyear's.
From our Indy experience, we guessed that Goodyear would not be able to respond to us quickly with new tyre development. Everyone at Bridgestone felt we were ready to take them on.

Moving the schedule ahead - a last chance to beat our rival

When the decision to enter F1 was made in 1996, the tyre development staff at the Kodaira Technical Centre were prepared to have everything ready on the technical side by the planned start date of 1998.
However, the Bridgestone Motorsport department was beginning to worry about the way a 1998 start would give our rival a whole year to prepare. The series of tests started in 1996 were showing that the performance of our F1 tyres was probably better than Goodyear's. Given more time, Goodyear might make big improvements to their tyres, denying us the chance to make a major impression in our first year and thus gain contracts with the top teams.
Harada agreed to move the start date forward in order to take no chances with this major project, and announced that 1997 was to be our first year in F1.
This decision was surely correct - in the opening race of the 1997 season, Olivier Panis rode to fifth place on Bridgestone tyres. That year Goodyear announced that the 1998 season would be their last in F1, and this made us all the more determined to take the championship before our rival departed.
Naturally, the accelerated schedule meant that everything now had to be done in a great rush. We were only supplying a few teams at first, but in F1 there is very little down time between races and we were worried about quickly establishing a stable supply system. However, the Tokyo Technical Centre, which was in charge of racing tyre production, brought in experts from all the company's production departments to staff a special system to see us through this difficult period. And so it was, by the summer of 1996, that we began preparing to enter F1, a whole year earlier than originally planned.

Taking it step by step

This was the period when Japanese corporations were rolling in funds, and they were often criticised abroad for simply buying their way to success.
Yasukawa and his Bridgestone Motorsport staff wanted to avoid such criticism, and also they felt that if they overreached financially there was a danger of losing everything they had fought for. They chose a deliberate policy of cautious step-by-step progress.
The real problem was one of manpower. If we started by supplying too many teams, or supplying the top teams with their greater demands, we would find ourselves short of staff as well as behind in production and logistics capacity. For that reason, we began by signing contracts with just five teams who liked our tyres. In fact, one of those had to drop out before the race season, so we made our start in F1 racing providing tyres for four teams. These were Tom Walkinshaw's Arrows, Alain Prost's Prost Grand Prix, Jackie Stewart's Stewart Grand Prix, and Minardi.

In the summer of 1996, we start preparing for next year's F1

In the run-up to our F1 entry, two things were essential. We needed a European base, and we needed the right people to staff it.
The development side had set up their organisation at the Technical Centre, led by Hamashima and a team of engineers including Toru Ubukata. But now we needed people for the front line work of managing tyre supplies at the F1 races in Europe.
Just at that time, Naotaka Horio had finished his time at Bridgestone Belgium and was preparing to return to Japan. Horio had little experience of motorsports, but in every other way he was ideal. He knew Europe, spoke good English and was highly motivated. A rugby player in his college days, he was renowned for his tenacity and fighting spirit. This was exactly the right character to drive our F1 team to do the immense amount of work we had to do with so little time to spare.

Once again, we borrow office space in London

At first, we didn't even have an office space. So, just as we had done when we began F2 racing in 1981, we asked Bridgestone's Diversified Products London operation for help, and once again they kindly agreed. In the 1980s, a single desk had been enough for our needs, but for our F1 office we occupied one of their meeting rooms.
Horio then led the search for a permanent space to serve as base for our F1 operations. He was personally setting up Bridgestone Motorsport UK from scratch, everything from renting the building to establishing the company and hiring staff. And it all had to be done in a huge rush, since the start of the 1997 season was just six months away. Horio began by inspecting four or five properties suggested by local real estate agents.
We needed somewhere near to Heathrow Airport, with large enough storage space for our tyre stock, plenty of office space and enough parking for several transporter trucks. Horio also insisted on good-looking facilities, appropriate for an operation supporting the world's greatest motor racing series.
One of the places offered was in an industrial estate not far from Heathrow, very close to the pleasant town of High Wycombe, which would be convenient for accommodation. Horio quickly rented this building and found himself an apartment nearby. Although his years in Belgium working in product design and management had made him very familiar with life in Europe, this was in fact the first time he had ever arranged a real estate contract. It would be the first of a great many new experiences.

Next, Horio had to hire his staff. First he contacted an employment agency to recruit an experienced and reliable accounts manager. By a fortunate coincidence, he soon found a professional accountant who had worked for Firestone and was knowledgable about tyres. Then Peter Grzelinski, who had provided tyre services such as fitting and transportation for us in the 1980s, willingly agreed to do the same for our F1 operation. Old connections were proving invaluable.
About 20 local staff were needed, and Horio set about conducting interviews. However, this proved difficult since he had no experience in personnel recruitment. Hearing this, Kosuke Yamamoto (then President of Bridgestone Diversified Products UK) offered to sit in on the interviews and give advice.
Horio was looking for staff who would keep working for us over the long term. In an industry where people frequently switch jobs, he wanted to hold onto his staff to make use of the knowhow they would accumulate. He couldn't offer wages to compete with the F1 teams, but instead he determined to create a working environment that staff would always praise and recommend, even if they eventually moved to other companies.
He told each interviewee "I can't afford to pay you a lot, but you'll be working in a close, friendly, committed team." His years in Europe had taught him that English people greatly valued jobs that provided motivation and interest.
Horio gave long service awards to his staff after five and ten years on the job, the five year award being a Cartier fountain pen engraved with their initials. He threw a Christmas party every year for all the staff and their families or girlfriends. Since staff were frequently working away from home on tour throughout the year, he felt it was important to hold such an occasion to bring them together with their loved ones. And of course he made sure to provide accommodation for everyone. The warm working atmosphere Horio created ensured that Bridgestone Motorsport UK lost few staff, many staying on with him for five or even ten years.