F1 : Bridgestone Motorsport official wants tyre company to stay in Formula 1

An official of the Japanese tyre supplier on Tuesday said he would like to see Bridgestone stay in Formula One.

Hiroshi Yamada is the development boss for Bridgestone's MotoGP programme.

He told Motosprint that while the marque is pulling out of Formula 1, Bridgestone will probably stay in MotoGP beyond the end of its current contract at the end of 2011.

"Obviously we'd have more money to spend (on MotoGP), because the Formula 1 budget is very high, but in my opinion we should stay in Formula 1 too, because our image would lose a lot otherwise," said Yamada.

Michelin is touted to re-enter Formula 1 in Bridgestone's wake next year, but the French marque wants at least one other supplier to compete with, as well as a move from 13 inch to 18 inch wheel rims in 2011.McLaren's engineering director Paddy Lowe confirmed this week that the teams would back Michelin's push for low profile wheels.

"Yes. I think all the teams have agreed that if Michelin would supply that as a condition then we would support that," he said.

Source: F1SA