Bridgestone to leave F1

[MartG]

Bridgestone have announced that they will not be seeking to renew their contract to supply F1 tyres after it expires at the end of next year http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.p...

With Bernie having pissed off Michelin when they were forced out of F1 by the 'exclusive supplier' deal with Bridgestone, anyone care to guess if they would come back. And if not, who else could supply F1 with tyres - Goodyear maybe ?

[belleair302]

With more races in SE Asia planned look east towards one of the manufacturers out that way! I am NOT sure that any major current European / US manufacturer is that interested when you consider the costs and logistics involved.

[jamieboy]

MartG said:

With Bernie having pissed off Michelin when they were forced out of F1 by the 'exclusive supplier' deal with Bridgestone, anyone care to guess if they would come back.

Not sure - they said they weren't happy with the idea of a single supplier for F1, but they signed up to be the single supplier for A1GP, didn't they?

[llewop]

I was thinking the same about Michelin when I read that this morning!

Whereas when there was competition it made sense for the tyre companies to use F1 as a form of marketing and development, not sure how that holds true for an exclusive deal? For that matter; which way does the money need to go under those circumstances!? Probably a silly question knowing the way F1 seems to work! but for a tyre company providing a service of making and shipping thousands of spec tyres a year you would have thought (in the normal world) they would be the one getting paid.....

so, as you say: Goodyear or........ (maybe some unknown far-east tyre company that wants to put itself on the map)

[dpbird90]

Hopefully Goodyear and Michelin will return. Maybe tyre choice should be down to the teams; i.e. run whatever the hell you like brand-wise. Who knows, maybe for China they could be running Linglongs or whatever they're called. Would be hopeless but funny.

[HereBeMonsters]

Nankang Ditchfinders ftw!

[skinny]

kuhmo

[Munter]

skinny said:

kuhmo

Well thats a better guess than Triangle.

[E30M3SE]

LingLongs, maybe.......

[MiniMan64]

I presume F1 doesn't pay for it's tyres at the moment, free advertising equals free tyres?

I presume therefore that any with new supplier it won't be as straight forward as that, might teams have to pay for tyres? Could be a bit of a blow for the new smaller teams.

[Matt H]

I got the feeling Michelin we pushed rather than jumped.

Not Bernie, but mad max. Which according to their sporting side is why they concentrated on the le mans series.

[MartG]

HereBeMonsters said:

Nankang Ditchfinders ftw!

Yep - TDFs ! Every driver yelling "No grip, no grip" over the radio

[Project 644]

MartG said:

HereBeMonsters said:

Nankang Ditchfinders ftw!

Yep - TDFs ! Every driver yelling "No grip, no grip" over the radio

And being able to do a whole season on the same set.

[skwdenyer]

MartG said:

HereBeMonsters said:

Nankang Ditchfinders ftw!

Yep - TDFs ! Every driver yelling "No grip, no grip" over the radio

Te he; a wet race every time, in grip terms. Button and Hamilton should do well, at least

[flemke]

Matt H said:

I got the feeling Michelin we pushed rather than jumped.

Not Bernie, but mad max. Which according to their sporting side is why they concentrated on the le mans series.

Mosley decided that F1 was going to a spec tyre. Anyone was eligible to tender, but it was pretty obvious, as between Bridgestone and Michelin, whom he was going to choose.
Michelin at the time said that they did not wish to participate in F1 without competition, although one suspected that they did not want to submit an application because it would be waste of their time, they knew that they were never going to be selected, and to have "lost" the competition to provide the spec tyre might in some way make them look bad. As it was, they walked away a full season before the spec tyre was introduced.

[Jungles]

Best contenders are Michelin and Dunlop, I think. Michelin supplies the Le Mans Series, and they left F1 mostly due to Mosley's influence. With Mosley gone, they might consider coming back on board again. Dunlop supplies V8SC, DTM, and ALMS, so they have pretty good experience with sports tyres at the top level.

[Munter]

F1 tyres are a bit unique though in that they have such a high profile compared to ALMS etc. Unless it was a 1 make deal again I don't know if Dunlop has the knowledge. Michelin do.

Left field suggestion Cooper/Avon.

[mat205125]

flemke said:

Matt H said:

I got the feeling Michelin we pushed rather than jumped.

Not Bernie, but mad max. Which according to their sporting side is why they concentrated on the le mans series.

Mosley decided that F1 was going to a spec tyre. Anyone was eligible to tender, but it was pretty obvious, as between Bridgestone and Michelin, whom he was going to choose.
Michelin at the time said that they did not wish to participate in F1 without competition, although one suspected that they did not want to submit an application because it would be waste of their time, they knew that they were never going to be selected, and to have "lost" the competition to provide the spec tyre might in some way make them look bad. As it was, they walked away a full season before the spec tyre was introduced.

Wasn't this part of Michelin's decision to rebrand it's rally kit to BF Goodrich so the Michelin name was out of the main FIA competition ...... or am I talking "MMGW fact!"?

[PhillipM]

Without any competition in a series, it's pretty poor marketing-wise, as they never get a mention, so you can see why Michelin didn't want to put the development costs into a control tyre - even if they had won the contract, it wouldn't have paid off with regard to marketing.

[egomeister]

skinny said:

kuhmo

yep, thats my prediction too. So much more to gain from doing it that the traditional big tyre co's.