Pirelli ready for potential tyre war
- Published on 13 Aug 2018 12:43
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Pirelli has stated that it is prepared should a second tyre manufacturer join the grid in the future. Pirelli has been Formula 1's sole tyre manufacturer since 2011. The sport last saw two competing tyre manufacturers back in 2006, when Bridgestone and Michelin went head-to-head.
There have been mild rumours about the sport introducing a new tyre supplier in the coming years. And should the Italian supplier be faced with a competitor, its head of motorsport Mario Isola says that it would be ready.
"If they decide to come back to this situation as we said in the past, we are ready to face also this new challenge,'' Isola said. "It is a new challenge because if you're a sole supplier you have some targets.
"You supply the same tyres to everybody so you can have a tyre with high degradation, with different targets. If we are in competition with our tyre supplier the target is just performance. It is clear. It's like for teams. Their target is safety for sure but safety is a target, it's always there, it's always a priority but after that it's just performance.''
However, Isola believes that the best decision for F1 would be to stick to just one supplier. The sport's new owners Liberty Media has been keen to reduce costs. And introducing a second tyre supplier would go against the work it's currently doing.
"The direction of Formula 1is still to have one supplier,'' Isola said. "Obviously what is changing quickly but the single supplier is saving money for everybody. If you introduce, again, what they call the ''tyre war'' or multiple suppliers you have to consider that in the past it was necessary to have additional test sessions or in the past the teams had a proper tyre test team and obviously this means additional costs. If they want to reduce the cost, this is probably not the right direction.''
Fergal Walsh
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Replies (7)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It could be healthy for F1, but I dont think it will happen.
kngrthr
Posts: 203
would be awesome if you could try both brands on friday, then chose which brand for the rest of the weekend.
that would keep the tyre manufacturers on their toes
Major Tom
Posts: 152
In the past teams have been tied to one supplier or the other and cars optimized for that tyre. This means that teams contracted to the less competitive tyre company are hugely disadvantaged. A single tyre levels the playing field. It also allows Liberty to specify the tyre characteristic to widen strategy choices. Stick with a single company I say!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Such things could indeed be a problem @MAJOR TOM, which is why it'd have to be regulated more than it was back then if it were to happen. Super GT has shown that it can be done. The suppliers there are pretty even, their tyres just have different properties.
I do like the sound of KNGRTHR's idea. Bring in different tyres with different characteristics and let the teams pick each weekend.
f1dave
Posts: 782
"If we are in competition with our tyre supplier the target is just performance."
God forbid a component that is designed to perform properly.
blade
Posts: 341
Bring it on - this is F1 and it should be about pushing the design envelope everywhere !
f1ski
Posts: 726
If you have one tire company let the teams choose the compounds they want to use not Pirelli
This will bring more divergent strategy which can lead to more interesting results.