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Bridgestone are confident that they have selected the right tyre compounds for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, even if the race is dry.

The return to the Fuji circuit in 2007 was blighted by heavy rain (pictured), preventing the rubber company from making an accurate evaluation of its dry-weather compounds and therefore leaving it somewhat blind in its selection for this year.

Bridgestone, the sole supplier to Formula One, will take its medium- and soft-compound Potenza tyres to the revamped venue - which returned to the schedule in place of Suzuka - as well as the wet and extreme wet options.

"We have learnt a lot from racing in other racing categories at Fuji, such as Formula Nippon and Super GT, over the years," director of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima said.

"It is from this knowledge that we chose the Formula One tyre position of the medium and soft tyres from our range.

"Last season we did not see too much dry running, but we know that the 100R corner will be a challenge for graining on the left front tyre. However, if competitors manage this well we are confident of a strong performance from our tyres.

"There are only two high speed corners - the 100R and 300R - and we will see dry set-ups with low downforce configurations, as the major feature of Fuji is the very long straight, which goes into a slow corner which will mean some interesting overtaking opportunities.

"The surface is quite smooth, however, so I do not expect problems with wear.

"As we saw last year, the biggest challenge could be the weather."

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton took one of the most accomplished victories of his fledgling F1 career last season to open what seemed a commanding lead in the championship standings.

However he was overhauled in the final races by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

The Briton returns to the circuit again in top spot, with a seven-point advantage over Raikkonen's Scuderia team-mate Felipe Massa.

Crash.Net / Eurosport