Bridgestone to end tyre supply

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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.
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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.
 
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.
 
.......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?
 
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"
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:lol:
 
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 :lol:
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.
3390369177_94b27a0e23.jpg
 
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.
 
Tetradic
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?
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It doesn't look like it was something they were actually fighting for, it just sort of happened after Indy '06 and they were like 'Oh, so we get an exclusive contract' but they never seemed to know what to do with it. I didn't see Bridgestone take advantage of that association, running ads saying "Official tire of F1" or anything similar.
 
Just had a look at Wikipedia - it doesn't say how Yokohama is doing financially, but it does say they have fourteen thousand employees whereas Bridgestone have a hundred and thirty-three thousand, so they may be too small. If Yokohama do enter, I'd prefer they do so as Yokohama, not ADVAN - ADVAN has becom popular in underground racing circles, and there's no way Formula One should be associated with anything remotely related to The Fast and the Furious.

I think Michelin will be the most likely to return, but I wouldn't object to Pirelli or Dunlop entering the fray as sole suppler. Dunlop already have a pretty extensive tyre program, supplying British Touring cars in the past, the V8 Supercars since 2002, and well as DTM and ALMS programs.
 
Which ever company joins in F1 is purely for marketing, since there's little to be gained, other than brand recognition. That, and selling a few high-end tires touting F1 technology.

Bridgestone likely joined for world-wide brand recognition.
 
Although Michelin joined for tyre wars - some of them preferred having some competition and beating each other race to race. 1997, when Bridgestone came in, was a great tyre war year between Bridgstone and Goodyear, some races the Bridgestone teams would be battling away at the front even though they were teams like Prost and Arrows who didn't have competitive chassis and engines.
This was an even better form of branding than having the only tyre in F1, because it would make wins by a certain tyre brand more significant, and it would get drivers saying in interviews "wow those Michelin's were great for this race".
Some are even suggesting that Bridgestone made the tyres rubbish this year on purpose so that its a constant talking point.
Next year with the ban on refuelling and the greater focus on tyre management, a tyre war would spice it up no end.

However, tyre wars are very expensive and its just not sensible in the current climate.
 
Ardius
Although Michelin joined for tyre wars - some of them preferred having some competition and beating each other race to race. 1997, when Bridgestone came in, was a great tyre war year between Bridgstone and Goodyear, some races the Bridgestone teams would be battling away at the front even though they were teams like Prost and Arrows who didn't have competitive chassis and engines.
This was an even better form of branding than having the only tyre in F1, because it would make wins by a certain tyre brand more significant, and it would get drivers saying in interviews "wow those Michelin's were great for this race".
Some are even suggesting that Bridgestone made the tyres rubbish this year on purpose so that its a constant talking point.
Next year with the ban on refuelling and the greater focus on tyre management, a tyre war would spice it up no end.

However, tyre wars are very expensive and its just not sensible in the current climate.
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Exactly 👍
 
ADVAN is Yokohama's Lexus... or their Type-R line, whichever way you want to look at it.

interludes
If Yokohama do enter, I'd prefer they do so as Yokohama, not ADVAN - ADVAN has becom popular in underground racing circles, and there's no way Formula One should be associated with anything remotely related to The Fast and the Furious.
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So Formula one should stop using motor engines that rev like VTEC, yo? ADVAN is popular in racing circles, period. They're good competition tires that are recognized and used by both amateur and pro racers alike.

Besides, the current top-of-the-line ADVANs are too expensive for your typical "ricer"... who will more likely get Nittos, Kumhos or even Yokohama's "tuner special" (meaning it has flashy treads, comes in low profile sizes, and doesn't grip that much better than the regualr milquetoast most compacts come with as stock), the Parada... which is not an ADVAN.

Every time Yoko goes into motorsports, they use the ADVAN name. It's just good marketing sense. And ADVAN is used as OEM on many fine handling cars, including some of the best sportscars in the world... (Lotus's Elise/Exige line is almost exclusively on ADVAN UHP tires and road legal R-Comps).

-

You're way behind the times, brah... many amateur racers and autocrossers are using Kumho because they're cheaper... and really, what over-testosteroned pimply-faced kid doesn't want to say his car has Kum-hos at every corner? :lol:
 
niky
So Formula one should stop using motor engines that rev like VTEC, yo? ADVAN is popular in racing circles, period. They're good competition tires that are recognized and used by both amateur and pro racers alike.
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Truth be told, I know them best from their involvement in rallying. That said, I don't know if they're right for Formula One. Yokohama is less than a tenth of the size of Bridgestone, so how are they faring in the recession and its wake?

I think Michelin would probably be the best chice, given that they have recent invovement with Formula One. They left because they didn't want to get involved in the tyre wars, didn't they? If they are approached to be the sole supplier, they might change their minds. If they don't want in, I wouldn't raise objections to Pirelli or Dunlop given their racing programs. Hell, you could probably coax Firestone, given that they work with Indycar.
 

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