Friday 5 February at 16:01 : Feb.5 (GMM) Bridgestone will continue to distinguish its tyre compounds in 2010 by painting green circles around the edges of the sidewalls.

The practice was a compromise given last year's switch from grooved to slick tyres, but some pointed out that white paint would be a better choice for visibility.

"We have used the colour green as it shows our support of the FIA's Make Cars Green campaign," said the Japanese supplier's technical manager Tetsuro Kobayashi.

Bridgestone also said a compound 'gap' would be left between its tyre allocations in 2010, despite some heavy criticism last year.

"This will not be possible at some races however, such as Monaco, where it is important to have consecutive soft compounds to ensure maximum grip on the street circuit," Kobayashi added.

The other tyre rule changes for 2010 are the narrower fronts in the interest of car balance, and the reduction in tyre allocation from 14 to 11 sets per driver.

It was reported recently that this cost-cutting move might be an FIA initiative to try to convince Bridgestone to stay in F1 beyond this season.

"This is welcome news from Bridgestone's perspective as we will have additional teams to supply and provide tyre fitting services to this year and we thank the FIA and teams for their cooperation in this regard," said Kobayashi.