When Bridgestone announced that it would not renew its contract as the sole tyre supplier for Formula1 after the contract ends at the end of the 2010 season, the next question was who would take over  in F1.  Soon, Reuters published that Pirelli had no desire to supply F1 with tyres.  On Any Sunday, These Days then suggested that multiple tyre suppliers might add some more on-track excitement with the removal of re-fueling, but that there were only a few manufacturers capable of producing the type and amount of tyres necessary for F1.

Goodyear and Michelin are the most likely contenders, despite, or perhaps because both have supplied F1 with tyres within the past ten years.  Unfortunately, according to an article by Jim Mackinnon, business writer for the Akron Beacon Journal,

“Michelin isn’t interested in re-entering Formula One — also known as F1 — racing, a spokeswoman for the company’s North American headquarters said Monday.”

Similarly, Goodyear North America spokesman Ed Markey said that, “We have no plans to re-enter F1,” though, the company is “continually evaluat[ing] a wide range of opportunities to determine the best fit for our strategic direction and make decisions based on the best interests of the company,” and, apparently, might be persuaded to re-enter the F1 tyre market.

With these four major racing tyre manufacturers out of the running, what companies are available, and who will take on such a project?  There is time to plan and execute the necessary production for a supply of F1 tyres, but that will require resources that seem to be sorely lacking in a down economy that has three manufacturers or teams withdrawing from the series, or considering doing so, within a week.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 8:20 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.