Williams defects to Bridgestone.
No sooner had Toyota issued a statement indicating its interest in switching camps next season, Bridgestone has announced that Williams will definitely join its list of clients from 2006.
The team has denied all rumours suggesting that it was among the teams thought likely to change tyre suppliers - Toyota and Red Bull had been the favourites - but it has now been revealed that it will be all-change at Grove, with Bridgestone rubber accompanying Cosworth V8 power in a new-look line-up.
No sooner had Toyota issued a statement indicating its interest in switching camps next season, Bridgestone has announced that Williams will definitely join its list of clients from 2006.
The team has denied all rumours suggesting that it was among the teams thought likely to change tyre suppliers - Toyota and Red Bull had been the favourites - but it has now been revealed that it will be all-change at Grove, with Bridgestone rubber accompanying Cosworth V8 power in a new-look line-up.
Bridgestone has confirmed a multi-year agreement with Williams, reuniting the two parties for the first time since the team became Michelin's first confirmed partner in 2001, the first season of choice among suppliers.
"It is with great pleasure that I can now confirm that Bridgestone Motorsport and the WilliamsF1 team have entered into a tyre supply partnership, to commence after the end of the current season," Bridgestone Motorsport director Hiroshi Yasukawa commented, "WilliamsF1 is one of the most experienced and respected teams competing in the FIA Formula One world championship and I would like to thank Sir Frank Williams for his faith in our technological capabilities.
"Since entering Formula One in 1997, Bridgestone Motorsport has supplied the winning constructors' and drivers' champions no fewer than seven times, and we now look forward to working closely with the WilliamsF1 team to help them achieve their goals in the future."
