Bridgestone Out After 2010

[Kati 0]

F1's sole supplier of tyres on Monday announced its decision to pull out of the sport after the 2010 season.

2010 marks the third year of Bridgestone's exclusive supply contract with formula one, and a media statement said the Bridgestone Corporation in Japan decided not to seek an extension.

A disappointed Hiroshi Yasukawa, boss of the company's motor racing programme, said the decision was about the redirection of "resources towards the further intensive development of those innovative technologies and strategic products which support the company

[Schumikonen 2]

and the things keep on coming... quite an animated end of season ah?

Probably Goodyear will be coming back like the old times

[raw 0]

Very good. I hate them for painting the stripe on option tyres green...

[UrKo 0]

i guess im still drunk..i read barrichello instead of bridgstone.

goodyear?? oh no no no... bring back michelin much better tyres )

[Argento Reloaded 1]

I hope will never be a single supplier in F1 -of nothing. Competition, the essence of sport/business.

i would like to see Michelin, Dunlop and Good Year.

[Quiet One 15]

I hope will never be a single supplier in F1 -of nothing. Competition, the essence of sport/business.

i would like to see Michelin, Dunlop and Good Year.

I disagree. Nowadays, tire plays such a major role in a car's performance you will end up having a competition between tires, in detriment of true competition among teams. If it wasn't for Bridgestone's far superior performance compared to Michelin (and Bridgestones full commitment with Ferrari), Schumi would have probably lost at least 2 of his WDCs, and if it wasnt for Michelin preferential treatment for Renault, Alonso would probably have won none. It's like a double diffuser, only it's beyond your team's developement capabilities to improve it so, basically, if your team is commited to the worst of 2 or 3 tire manufacturers, then your chances are pretty much screwed for the rest of the season.

[Kati 0]

bets r on pirelli stepping in, but they set no comment on it yet.

[Schumikonen 2]

I disagree. Nowadays, tire plays such a major role in a car's performance you will end up having a competition between tires, in detriment of true competition among teams. If it wasn't for Bridgestone's far superior performance compared to Michelin (and Bridgestones full commitment with Ferrari), Schumi would have probably lost at least 2 of his WDCs, and if it wasnt for Michelin preferential treatment for Renault, Alonso would probably have won none. It's like a double diffuser, only it's beyond your team's developement capabilities to improve it so, basically, if your team is commited to the worst of 2 or 3 tire manufacturers, then your chances are pretty much screwed for the rest of the season.

[Jean Todt 4]

I am quite happy to hear this, the favoured party of FIA is going away...

[lewisthegreat2 0]

I certainly hope anyone but Goodyear get it. They've made the most rubbish tires for NASCAR over the last long while, and I don't think they're competent enough to handle Formula 1.

I also hope this whole option tire crap goes away. I wonder if anyone will try to be awesome and run the first however many laps on the good tires, build up a massive lead, and then pit with two laps to go to run the not-as-good compound now that refuelling is gone. Without silly option tires, teams could go on the super awesome no-stopper.

And we wouldn't need to manufacture tiretainment if we had a tire war. Let them all race if they'd like to. I made myself laugh. Like Todt wouldn't go around making deals with people.

[Argento Reloaded 1]

I disagree. Nowadays, tire plays such a major role in a car's performance you will end up having a competition between tires, in detriment of true competition among teams. If it wasn't for Bridgestone's far superior performance compared to Michelin (and Bridgestones full commitment with Ferrari), Schumi would have probably lost at least 2 of his WDCs, and if it wasnt for Michelin preferential treatment for Renault, Alonso would probably have won none. It's like a double diffuser, only it's beyond your team's developement capabilities to improve it so, basically, if your team is commited to the worst of 2 or 3 tire manufacturers, then your chances are pretty much screwed for the rest of the season.

Always tyres were a key factor; from 1950 to today. I can mention the same reasons to say evebody must use the same engine (maybe if RedBull used Mercedes engines... who knows)

Bah! I don

[Piotr 0]

Nope, NO tires in 2011. Bernie will order all venues to install triple rail tracks and F1 will be like a slot car race with race engineers pushing remote controls of the cars. This will eliminate an unfair advantage of teams with better drivers, just contributing to the spirit of competition. Thus, drivers will not be required to have any skills except for good looks, which will eliminate the likes of Kubica, Vettel and Sutil. Rosberg will be crowned champion for life with Hamilton a distant second.

Oh, almost forgot - passing will be implemented by adding switch-overs between tracks with race director directing traffic by a series of RR semaphores.

Can't wait...

[Kopite Girl 0]

Goodyear Eagles. A la Mansell 1992 FW14B I think!

[aussief1 4]

I must say I'm quite surprised by this announcement by Bridgestone, no hint / or rumour to speak of.... My money is on seeing the return of Michelin to the grid in 2011. Whoever it's going to be you would assume there would be atleast 6 months lead time to have tyres ready for competition. It's quite a program to assemble out of nothing.

[Quiet One 15]

Always tyres were a key factor; from 1950 to today.

Yes, but never before was car developement so constricted. In the old day,s you could come up with lots of options to compensate for a poor tire choice. Nowadays, there isn't much you can do except adding some stupid wingglet here and some ridiculous rearview mirror there and hope to make up a few 1/1000ths of seconds.

Tire competition only makes sense if the teams are given more freedom to develop their cars.

[AleHop 0]

[quote name='Quiet One' date='03 November 2009 - 01:27 PM' timestamp='1257251258' post='302489']
Tire competition only makes sense if the teams are given more freedom to develop their cars.
[/quote]
Engine is a critical part for an F1 car. What would Brawn have achieved with Honda engines? What RBR would have achieved with Mercedes?

[Argento Reloaded 1]

Yes, but never before was car developement so constricted. In the old day,s you could come up with lots of options to compensate for a poor tire choice. Nowadays, there isn't much you can do except adding some stupid wingglet here and some ridiculous rearview mirror there and hope to make up a few 1/1000ths of seconds.

Tire competition only makes sense if the teams are given more freedom to develop their cars.

So let

[Jez 0]

and the things keep on coming... quite an animated end of season ah?

Ronspeak live through that article you posted!

I must say I'm quite surprised by this announcement by Bridgestone, no hint / or rumour to speak of.... My money is on seeing the return of Michelin to the grid in 2011. Whoever it's going to be you would assume there would be atleast 6 months lead time to have tyres ready for competition. It's quite a program to assemble out of nothing.

Yup.

[Quiet One 15]

Engine is a critical part for an F1 car. What would Brawn have achieved with Honda engines? What RBR would have achieved with Mercedes?

Yes, but things are more complex when it comes to engines. How many teams won a championship against their "parent" engine team in the last years? (For "parent" I mean either the team of the actual engine manufacturer - Ferrari or Renault - or the team the engine manufacturer was most commited to - McLaren/Mercedes- )

That said, I don't think that a field composed mostly of chassis manufacturers around cosworth engines is a nice prospect. Of course the ideal woul be that each team could have their own engine.

In any case, freedom to develop is the central issue in both scenarios.

[Quiet One 15]

So let

[Jean Todt 4]

Engine is a critical part for an F1 car. What would Brawn have achieved with Honda engines? What RBR would have achieved with Mercedes?

Honda were rumored to be having the best engine, they had invested a lot on the chassis and engine development, and the bosses in Japan told the team back in England that they have to have the best package over all by all means, no matter how much it costs, the fact that the team used five different wind tunnels itself is a proof that they were really bullish about the 2009 season, pity they didn't use it when it all came right....even their KERS are rumoured to be superior to Mercedes....not that I am a Honda fan.......a guy doing his masters in Engineering who was doing research in engergy recovery system informed me this bit of news.....I don't know anyone from Honda...

[AleHop 0]

Yes, but things are more complex when it comes to engines. How many teams won a championship against their "parent" engine team in the last years? (For "parent" I mean either the team of the actual engine manufacturer - Ferrari or Renault - or the team the engine manufacturer was most commited to - McLaren/Mercedes- )

That said, I don't think that a field composed mostly of chassis manufacturers around cosworth engines is a nice prospect. Of course the ideal woul be that each team could have their own engine.

In any case, freedom to develop is the central issue in both scenarios.

Ok, I thought Muzza had washed your brain. I agree when you talk about parent teams, we've seen a completely new scenario this season but we should be ready for that scenario to stay in F1. I think tyre competition could be very good if there are two or three manufacturers having very good compounds. Normaly some compounds work better on some tracks than other and that way it's not easy to have just one car winning every single race. And some tyre development during the season could give a boost too... But it can be boring if one supplier is the best of them by far.

Honda were rumored to be having the best engine, they had invested a lot on the chassis and engine development, and the bosses in Japan told the team back in England that they have to have the best package over all by all means, no matter how much it costs, the fact that the team used five different wind tunnels itself is a proof that they were really bullish about the 2009 season, pity they didn't use it when it all came right....even their KERS are rumoured to be superior to Mercedes....not that I am a Honda fan.......a guy doing his masters in Engineering who was doing research in engergy recovery system informed me this bit of news.....I don't know anyone from Honda...

If that is true they could start the harakiri ceremonies in Honda.

[Quiet One 15]

Ok, I thought Muzza had washed your brain.

Thankfully not.

I am just afraid that a massive difference in tire performances might combined with little room for car development could end in one car dominating even if that car is driven by Nelsinho

I think that the problem with current F1 is that so many regulations are hindering the teams that each isolated "improvement" ends up making things worse. Tire wars? Great. KERS? Great. No winglets? Great. In the end, however, the races are always just boring processions. How come?

[AleHop 0]

I think that the problem with current F1 is that so many regulations are hindering the teams that each isolated "improvement" ends up making things worse. Tire wars? Great. KERS? Great. No winglets? Great. In the end, however, the races are always just boring processions. How come?

Tbh, I think we'd have enjoyed a much better season if the FIA had declared illegal the double diffusers. Dirty air is one of the big pending issues for overtaking but the FIA banned winglets and advanced aerodynamics to bring the even worse diffusers of overtaking destruccion.

Next year we'll have even worse processions for the first part of the race but I expect good spectacle as cars get lighter.

[Autumnpuma 0]

There's a lesson here. Open competition is the only way towards technological advancement. I'm raising a pint to Bridgestone tonight for having the competitive spirit to say "F*** You, F1. We're bored with this."