Renault's engineering chief Pat Symonds believes Bridgestone's decision to provide 2007 Melbourne-specification tyres for the three pre-Christmas Formula 1 tests in Spain will greatly help his team come to terms with the switch over from Michelin swiftly.
Bridgestone will be F1's sole tyre supplier next year, leaving the six former Michelin runners with a disadvantage of having to learn new rubber characteristics and build fresh working relationships with the Japanese company.
But Symonds is confident Renault can be on level terms with Bridgestone's regular front-running partners Ferrari, Toyota and Williams by the Australian Grand Prix in March.
"It is a massive help," he said of Bridgestone's winter testing policy.
"Had we been switching suppliers in the middle of a tyre-war, it would have been an order of magnitude more difficult.
"The fact we are working with a stable product will assist us greatly in understanding the tyres.
"Our aim will be to get to Australia on an equal footing with the teams that have been using them for a while already," he added.
"That will not be easy, but it is achievable."
Symonds says his double-world champion team now has the technical resource to absorb such a critical change to its overall package and added that he was confident that while changing tyre supply was a major challenge it was not an insurmountable one.
"I don't think the move to Bridgestone can be understated, but it is also important not to overstate its importance," he said.
"The last time we changed tyre supplier was between 2000 and 2001.
"Since then, we have become a lot more knowledgeable about the tyres, and we can apply a lot more intelligence to the problem.
"On a technical level, the transition is one of the normal engineering challenges an F1 team faces."
"To a very large extent, our running will deal with learning and adapting to the true characteristics of the Bridgestone tyres," he said about the upcoming tests.
"We have received a lot of data from Bridgestone, which has been applied to our computer modelling in order to understand the basics of how the car set-up need to be altered to get the best out of the tyres.
"Factors such as weight distribution and the aerodynamic characteristics of the car need to be re-assessed to determine how to best use the Bridgestone tyres."
One factor he is not concerned about is how Renault drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen will adapt to the change: "I am very confident in the drivers' ability to adapt."
"Giancarlo already has experience of the Bridgestone tyres from 2004; equally, when he changed tyre supplier at the start of 2005, he had no problem adapting," he continued.
"I am sure he can do the same again.
"As for Heikki, we already know that he has the versatility and intelligence to make the change without any difficulties.
"I am sure both drivers will feel at ease quite quickly."
It's easy to talk. Let us see what he has to at the end of the 2007 season
Pat Symonds confident over switch to Bridgestone tyres
