Bridgestone’s super-soft tyres powered Red Bull racing ace Sebastian Vettel to his fourth pole position in a row for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix, while his team mate Mark Webber, joins him in second place.

As predicted, rain had an effect on the condition of the track and ultimately the performance of the tyres and the speed of the cars.

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone, said: “This morning the track surface was not as good as it was at the end of yesterday’s running due to rain overnight and oil on track from the support category.

“At the start of qualifying the track surface was reasonable, and it continued to improve to the extent that we saw record-breaking pace today.

“The Red Bulls were very quick, especially in the last two sectors of the lap. Their speed at the speed trap is not as high as their opposition, so we can see they are using the maximum potential of their tyres through the Hungaroring’s fourteen corners.”

He added: “Both compounds are working very well here in Hungary. The super soft has not shown much degradation so in terms of tyre performance, many strategies are possible tomorrow.

“It is quite a short lap here, so the front-runners could encounter traffic quite early, which is another factor for making the pit stop calls.

“It will be interesting to watch Jenson Button’s strategy in the race, starting from eleventh, as we have seen him use very good strategies many times so far this season to gain positions in the race.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Denna Bowman

Goodyear tyres second quarter growth demonstrates that the company “pulled the right levers during the economic downturn” and is on the right road moving forward.

Richard Kramer, president and chief executive officer of the US tyres manufacturer, said: “From an operational standpoint, our performance was driven by our ability to capture the benefits of recovering industry demand in terms of both sales volume and factory utilisation.”

Kramer notes that in its North American business, Goodyear continued to focus on innovation, price mix, productivity and improving manufacturing efficiency, which were all disrupted by the recent recession.

“Our results reflect progress in these areas and give us confidence in our ability to achieve our 5% segment operating income margin target. Certainly we have more actions planned, but we absolutely are on the right path.”

Goodyear reported a 15% increase in sales from last year on 10% unit growth and announced that tyre sales grew in all four business units, reflecting global recovery.

Kramer said: “We are very pleased with our strong performance in the second quarter and first half of the year.

“Our businesses continue to perform better than a year ago as they capture the benefits of recovering industry demand, strong new product performance and solid productivity improvements. We are clearly on the right path as our strategies position us to grow profitably as markets continue to improve.”

When you order anything on the internet - whether it’s a CD, a sofa or set of tyres, you want to be sure you are getting the best price and service possible.

This is what ‘tam4play’ hoped for when he tweeted: “Just booked etyres for a tyre replacement….hopefully are as good as they claim as unable to get to my usual tyre guy.” That was three days ago…

….and two days later we were delighted to see that he followed up with this tweet: “Etyres were impressive today, phoned ahead with approx arrival time. Turned up and had new tyre on and were away in 15 mins. Would use again.”

We operate a convenient - and free - mobile fitting service, which means our customers can have their tyres fitted at a location of their choice - at home or work. And because our operating costs are low, we pass the savings on to our customers with prices up to 40% cheaper than the leading high street tyre chains.

So thanks ‘tam4play’ for taking the ‘tam’ out to tweet about your positive experience - not sure where you’re from though, so can’t pass your compliments on to the fitter!

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Alex Kapadia

Formula One team Force India has been fined after commiting its second tyres blunder in less than a week.

The team landed the 5000 Euro fine for using a set of tyres on Paul di Resta’s car in first practice that were not supposed to be used before Saturday.

The race stewards found that Force India had been in breach of Article 25.4 of Formula 1’s sporting regulations when it used a set of prime tyres that should only have been run from Saturday morning’s final practice session.

Article 25.4 states: “Each nominated driver will be allocated three sets of dry-weather tyres for use during P1 and P2, two of “prime” specification and one of “option” specification. These are the only dry-weather tyres which may be used during these sessions.”

The tyre mix-up comes less than a week after Force India was reprimanded at the German Grand Prix for accidentally fitting the wrong tyres to Vitantonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil’s cars during an early pit stop.

Rain has been forecast for the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, which is likely to put added strain on the tyres for the race.

The Hungaroring track can be hard on tyres due to its bumpy nature and close monitoring of Bridgestone’s super-soft compound is very important.

However, in the case of overnight rain before the race, all rubber will be washed out and the track will be very hard to drive on.

The weather played an important role in the German Grand Prix last weekend, and with showers forecast for Saturday and Sunday the teams will be figuring this into their tyres strategy.

Today’s two practises at the Hungaroring are expected to take place in dry conditions with a maximum of 26′C, which means the track temperature should be perfect for drivers to work heat into their tyres.

However, forecasts claim Saturday’s qualifying could see the worst of the weather with heavy showers and strong wind predicted throughout the day.

And although the conditions aren’t expected to be as bad on Sunday, more showers have been forecast.

The weather played an important part in last weekend’s German Grand Prix when rain led to several cars slithering off the Hockenheim circuit last Friday, limiting the amount of testing for some of the teams.

On the positive side, now the teams will know what to expect in terms of set-up and tyre use after last weekend.

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Denna Bowman

Michelin has launched a new commercial in its global ad campaign, which uses the tag line “The Right Tyre Changes Everything”, focusing on long tread life.

The new advert features the tyres company’s iconic Michelin Man - also known as Bibendum - “in an animated world - a world of mobility where inhabitants face challenges brought on by failing to use Michelin tires,” say company officials.

“As an ambassador of the Michelin brand, the Michelin Man comes to the aid of motorists in trouble, replacing their tyres with Michelin tyres that he pulls from his body, enabling drivers to go farther on the road.”

The Michelin HydroEdge tyre “is at the centre of the conversation with a 90,000-mile warranty,” they note.

The tyre covers 95% of all S/T category passenger and minivan tyres and is available in 26 sizes, ranging from 14 inches to 18 inches in diameter.

Michelin is helping Yellowstone National Park reduce its carbon footprint by equipping the parks fleet of vehicles with energy saving tyres.

Yellowstone is aiming to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in the park by 30 per cent over the next five years, and Michelin hopes its green tyres will make a major contribution to the eco-drive.

Don Baldwin, product category manager for Michelin Americas Truck Tyres, said: “Since Michelin became the official tyre of the Yellowstone Park Foundation in 2009, the park’s fleet managers have reported fuel savings on the first seven vehicles of as much as 20 percent compared to the previous tyres.

“This translates into emissions savings of more than 4 tons of CO2 each year per truck. In addition, the Michelin tyres are lasting twice as long as the previous tires, further reducing environmental impact.”

Michelin provides green, fuel-saving tyres to a wide variety of vehicles in the park ranging from haul trucks and dump trucks to front-end loaders and other service vehicles.

The tyre maker’s most popular wide single truck tyre, the Michelin X One XDN2 tyre, is the featured tyre on work trucks that operate both on- and off-road. Often unseen by visitors, these work vehicles are essential to maintaining the park for visitors, researchers and wildlife alike. Assuring that the fleet is fuel-efficient saves money but also significantly reduces carbon emissions.

In addition to providing tyres, Michelin field engineers are frequently on-site to consult with fleet managers about optimizing the tyres for the harsh Yellowstone environment. The idea behind this partnership is to help the park operate more efficiently, but also to learn as much as possible about how tyres respond in extreme conditions.

“Yellowstone is the ideal proving ground for developing the best tyres for our customers,” said Baldwin. “These trucks operate in extreme conditions all year round. From very low to high temperatures, in varying altitudes, in both dry and wet weather, and on all kinds of surfaces - from pavement to gravel, sand to snow - these trucks have to keep working. What we’re hearing is that Michelin tyres have helped them do that more efficiently.”

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Alex Kapadia

Pirelli look set to announce the identify of the racing driver who will be testing its Formula One tyres.

Media reports have already linked Mercedes reserve driver Nick Heidfeld with the role of helping the Italian tyres manufacturer to prepare for the 2011 season, according to PaddockTalk, a leading online racing website.

It is believed Pirelli will conduct six tests before all the teams try the tyres for the first time in Abu Dhabi in mid November.

A spokesman for Pirelli’s F1 programme said this pre-Abu Dhabi testing, reportedly with a 2009 Toyota car, will not begin until “about September”.

“At the moment, we have produced the first scale models of the tyres, at 50 per cent size, for the purposes of wind tunnel testing,” he said.

“The four compounds are currently being worked upon, with the prototypes scheduled to come out next month.

“There was a test that took place at Paul Ricard in France recently, but that was for GP2 tyres. There, we completed more than 120 laps with no problems.”

As for a driver for the F1 tests, the spokesman said an announcement can be expected “either next week or the week after”.

He said “two permanent test drivers” will be appointed, “one for F1 and one for GP2″.

“Details of the F1 car we will be testing with” will also be provided, the Pirelli spokesman added.

By Denna Bowman

Yokohama winter tyres are available in the UK for the first time, according to Tyres and Accessories magazine.

The range of W.drive winter tyres have already been adopted by vehicle manufacturers, including Audi, Bentley, Lotus and Mercedes AMG, as winter options.

Their popularity is further endorsed by recommendations from motoring organisations around Europe.

The W.drive range is designed to provide grip and safety on snow and ice and allow drivers to maintain control in all conditions.

The W.drive (V902) has been developed specifically to deal with snow and ice conditions, providing drivers of passenger cars and SUVs with the levels of grip and safety expected from Yokohama in these most tricky of road conditions.

The tread patterns, construction and compounds have been created to provide grip on snow and ice – two very different conditions from a tyre’s point of view. The inner tread blocks provide grip on snow, while the radial grooves help to clear loose or slushy snow, enabling the tyre to contact the road directly where possible.

The design of the sipes, or smaller grooves, creates lots of edges that generate grip on ice while the larger outer tread blocks provide grip and stability on dry or wet roads.

Yokohama claims the result is a tyre that provides the driver with confidence and security throughout the winter whatever the conditions. It adds that the W.drive outperforms the company’s previous winter tyre in all respects and its low rolling resistance fits within Yokohama’s commitment to improving the environment by reducing vehicle fuel consumption.

The W.drive is available now in the UK in a range of sizes for 15 to 20-inch rim diameters, including the 16-inch run-flat option for the Mini. Prices start at £50 excluding VAT.

Top motoring agony aunt Honest John has been quizzed on the subject of ‘does size matter’ when it comes to smaller wheels!

The Daily Telegraph columnist directed TS from Newark to the etyres website, to the section where the UK’s leading online tyres company features a Tyre Size Change Calculator.

Under the headline ‘Smaller wheels means a better ride - Honest John explains why fitting smaller wheels improves ride comfort - TS asks: “You often advise people to change wheel sizes to improve ride comfort. Would this not affect the speedometer reading, thus making it illegal unless the gearing was altered to compensate?”

Honest John replied: “You have to keep the rolling circumference within 2.5 per cent. Smaller wheels allow the fitting of deeper-profile tyres. Go to www.etyres.co.uk/tyre-size-calculator.htm and you’ll find that 225/45 R18s are approximately equal to 215/50 R17s, which are approximately equal to 205/60 R16s.”

For anyone not familiar with the brilliant Honest John, he started work in the motor trade in 1959 and bought his first car in 1964. His award-winning agony column first appeared in the Daily Telegaph’s Saturday Motoring section in January 1995 and he has since helped many tens of thousands of people with their motoring problems.

Denna Bowman, Head Office