The years since 2001 had seen huge changes for us. We faced competition again with Michelin's return to F1 that year, and the following seasons saw constant revisions in the regulations. A whole new challenge began for us, working out a winning strategy under these evolving new conditions. This really began in the off season of 2003, when we started developing a completely new construction, unlike any we had considered before. In 2006, that development project had now finally come to fruition. This new construction used a softer compound than before, and was designed to remedy our perceived weaknesses in traction and braking performance. However, the whole concept was so different that there was a period of confusion at first, not just among the teams but even among the Bridgestone engineers.
Hamashima recalls his frustration: "We felt we had built a masterpiece tyre, but at first we couldn't figure out how to use it. When we chose compounds using our previous way of thinking, they turned out to be too hard. It took us until the fourth round to figure this out. Obviously, this held us back in the fight for the title." Bridgestone had in fact developed what would later be acknowledged to be the finest tyre in F1 history, but in its first season we weren't able to prove its full worth, and Michelin was able to retire from Formula One racing with a final victorious year. At least, at the end of the year as we once again faced the prospect of becoming the sole tyre supplier, we could take satisfaction in knowing that technically we had done our best.