Bridgestone appears to have abandoned its idea of making the compounds of its tyres more visibly distinguishable by painting large red dots on the side walls. Instead, the Japanese supplier is likely to colour the inside of one groove per tyre white; a solution tested extensively by the Super Aguri team during Wednesday's testing at Sepang and probably to debut in the Malaysian grand prix.

It is understood that the sidewall dots concept was finally abandoned because, no matter the size or colour of the marking, they are difficult to spot when the tyre is turning at speed. Interestingly, after the outside grooves were painted white on Alex Wurz's Williams on Tuesday, the Super Aguri of Takuma Sato featured tyres with the inside grooves painted.


Manipe F1

 

Here are some pictures of it:



Not so much on old scuffs:

 

for CHAMP car, bridgestone does the entire sidewall in red for their softer compound tire (known as the alternate tire).

 

That should work AND keep Bernie from Champ-car jealousy.

 

Dumb rule that should just be taken out of F1....