Formula 1 Bridgestone to end tyre supply

Quote:

Bridgestone to stop F1 tyre supply in late 2010

TOKYO, Japan — Japan's Bridgestone Corp. said Monday it would end its tyre supply contract with Formula One after late 2010, citing a changing "business environment."

"Bridgestone today announced that it will not enter into a new tyre supply contract with the FIA Formula One World Championship series," the Tokyo-based tyre and rubber industry giant said in a statement.

Bridgestone has supplied tyres to F1 for 13 years and has been the exclusive supplier to the series since 2007. Its current contract expires at the end of the 2010 season.

The company said it was "addressing the impact of the continuing evolution of the business environment."

Last month Bridgestone said it would shed nearly 900 jobs in Australia and New Zealand as it closes manufacturing plants amid a worldwide slump in demand for cars.

Bridgestone, which vies with France's Michelin to be the world's top tyremaker, posted a net loss of 38.34 billion yen (420 million dollars) for January-June, a turnaround from a year-earlier profit of 37.24 billion yen.

Press release.

Interesting. I wonder who is going to step in for Bridgestone...

Hard to believe they are going to waste their time developing a new width for the front of the cars for next year, considering they will be gone only a few months later. I really don't think the narrower tire is necessary one bit...it's just going to make the cars more dull to watch in the end.

I have a feeling Button will take a liking to the more staggered set-up though. Should be able to get more temp in the tire, and won't have to worry about as much oversteer as the current stagger.

I would put my money on Michelin stepping up again. From memory, they currently supply tyres for some of the Sports Car categories (ALMS? Not sure which ones precisely) and as long as Indy 05 (again, sic?) isn't repeated things should be okay.

There's also Pirelli but the more likely is Michelin

Wow really? I'm guessing this sudden pull out of F1 is partly the result of new rules to be implied?

Well 600 people lost their jobs a few weeks ago in SA. (Port Agusta or somewhere) with Bridgestone.

Thiele

Well 600 people lost their jobs a few weeks ago in SA. (Port Agusta or somewhere) with Bridgestone.

Um, they don't actually make the racing tyres there.

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Um, they don't actually make the racing tyres there.

No, but if the company was going strong, why would they lay of 600 workers?

Tnerb

No, but if the company was going strong, why would they lay of 600 workers?

Pretty much every single tyre manufacturer in the world is in the red financially.

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Pretty much every single tyre manufacturer automotive supplier in the world is in the red financially.

Fixed.

.......Dont think Michelin will step up, they always said they had no interest in f1 if it was a single tyre manufacture series. Maybe Yokohama?

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Pretty much every single tyre manufacturer in the world is in the red financially.

I think he meant that their motorsport business end is affected as a result of the economic slump.

Kwikfit remoulds have tendered a bid to supply F1 from 2011 onwards. Every pitstop will have 2 mechanics gathered round the car, doing a sharp intake of breath and saying, "Bit busy the now mate, can do a week on Tuesday for you"

daan

Kwikfit remoulds have tendered a bid to supply F1 from 2011 onwards. Every pitstop will have 2 mechanics gathered round the car, doing a sharp intake of breath and saying, "Bit busy the now mate, can do a week on Tuesday for you"

I have a few other tire makers in mind for stepping up into Bridgestone's role.

• Goodyear: Maybe a comeback?
• Dunlop
• Cooper: After doing A1 GP for it's first few seasons, maybe they might consider another go at open-wheel racing on a international scale?

Avon may be an option too.

Yokohama supply FIA WTCC and Pirelli supply FIA WRC so either of those must surely be likely?
Although maybe the FIA is going by a rule of one supplier for each formula of racing.

I would love to see the tyre wars back but thats not going to happen in the next 3 years
I'd like to see Goodyear back or Dunlop. The Goodyear's looked good with the gold lettering on the tyre walls and gold rims. Especially the Ferrari's, Red+Black+Gold.

I yhink FOM may have to caugh up some pretty hefty money for any supplier to take up this one. Michelin is highly unlikely, for reasons stated earlier, unless they again decide to let in more than one supplier.
I´d like that frankly. More teams, more tyresuppliers, doesn´t that sound good? Michelin, Goodyear, Yokohama anyone?

I understand the business realities that probably spawned this. As said before here all motorsport/automotive companies are suffering. However, Japanese motorsport/automotive companies, given their way their corporate boards work, are making knee jerk reactionary moves far too late (in the way giant Japanese companies always do). Look at Honda's last minute withdrawal last year and Toyota's budget games they have been playing thus far this year...

That being said I found this announcement shocking. Bridgestone fought so hard for so long to win the right to be the sole tire supplier for F1. They effectively outspent and out maneuvered Michelin in masterful way and finally got what they wanted all along. Now they are leaving?

This is either due to a slow moving reactionary Japanese board or some rule change/regulation we don't know about yet. I can't see any other reason they would leave so suddenly like this.

I would like to see the tire wars back, especially with the lack of refueling, it would add a dynamic to the racing that will be lost next year... but it's not going to happen.

I can't see Michelin wanting back in after how they were treated on exit. Though maybe with all the rule changes, lack of competition and a new FIA president it could be more appealing to them?

Goodyear spends too much money of NASCAR to spend what would be required in F1. Plus last time I read anything about Goodyear they seem worst off than Bridgestone finically. No other American tire brand could even be considered.

I would think Pirelli or Yokohama, more the first, would be the best bets sans Michelin.

The main problem with F1 tyres are they have no functional carry-over to market. Infact they only thing that has come from F1 tyre technology in the last decade appears to be in built tyre pressure sensors.

For this reason I find it hard to believe that any manufacturer who's markets don't reside mostly in performance tyres will bid for the contract. The only problem with that is I can't see a small company like Avon being able to afford to bid or have the facilities to make the tyres.

[EDIT] I wasn't aware Avon was owned by a far larger company. I still think it's unlikely but they seem to have the facilities.

The only big majors with a big investment in really high performance and racing tires that I see are Michelin, Bridgestone and Yokohama... Yokohama could do the tire supply under the Advan nameplate (and that would be quite a coup), but I don't know if they're in any better shape than Bridgestone... though they could probably carry over their research and testing from other formulas.