Pirelli says it "wants" to be back but hasn't signed a contract. That tells me it's looking for some conditions. Bridgestone has said no way. Michelin isn't interested. Hankook says forget it. Goodyear said bye bye many years ago. What if all the tire makers say they aren't doing it anymore?
Freeze development of tires and only sell standard compounds to teams? They can find a manufacturer of tires without problem. The hard part they're having is finding a manufacturer that wants to keep up with all the R&D to keep making new stuff in addition to regular manufacturing and supply. I don't think it will come to that, but I think that's where it would head in that worst case scenario you describe.
If I was a manufacturer and offered the contract, I'd turn it down too. Who wants to make tires that intentionally rapidly degrade and everyone from the teams, to the fans, to the media routinely dump on? What's the point? "Oh tire manufacturers, would anyone like to make F1 tires to our specs and be ridiculed by the teams, the fans, and the media all over the world week in and week out??? Come on, sign up...just bear your own cost of development. Come on, we're doing you a favor. You get massive international exposure. Admittedly it's mostly bad exposure, but come on, it's F1!!!" Mark
Avon All historic GP cars need fresh tires for their second lives. There are manufacturers out there. Avon is one of them (and on fotos always a good indicator how old that shot really is).
Move to a stock existing tire rather than a special F1 tire... At anyrate, I wouldn't be too keen on resigning under the current situation if I were Pirreli.
Maybe slightly off topic but... what if the pit speed limit was raised so that it was more practical to run full out and degrade the tires. I'm all for getting back to running at the limit 100% of the time, just make tires that sit somewhere between a 2/3 stop race and let those who want to try and save them run the two's and make the pit speed equal to the bogey time...?
That's exactly what Bernie asked Pirelli to supply; Tires that would generally require 2-3 stops. As for the pitlane speed limit, it's already friggin' hairy in the pits! They're plenty fast enough IMO. It's up to the teams to determine their strategies taking into account the pitstop delta versus tire degradation on a track by track basis. Cheers, Ian
I wonder how long Pirelli wants to stay in F1 with this whole degredation of the tires, before it morphes in people's minds a few years on with the street tires.
There were failures, one of which was blamed for the Mille Miglia crash that killed DePortago his co-driver and a number of spectators. The ensuing litigation went on for years.
+1 Bernie was allowed to become entirely too involved in the technical aspect part of the business, his position it was all in the name of entertainment. DRS was enough for that IMO, the rest is a circus.
DRS was the first step down the slippery slope. Once you accept the premise that gimmicks can improve a sport you don't get to be surprised by what follows.
Football players with external adrenaline injections useable on at certain areas of the field anyone?
