FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[racechick]

the teams have to pay Pirelli? To provide that tissue thin pap? Wooo! Can't say I blame Matin for getting his knickers in a twist over that one!

[andrew]

The teams will have known that they were getting tyres that degrade quickly so they've naff all to moan about.

[darwin dali]

ESPNF1:

Hankook has said it would not be possible for it to become a tyre supplier in Formula One next season.

F1's current supplier, Pirelli, is without a contract for 2014 and has warned it could be forced to quit the sport if a deal is not signed soon. Hankook has been rumoured as a possible replacement after its success supplying DTM, but the company's DTM competition engineer Michael Eckert said it simply wouldn't be possible for his Hankook to be ready for F1 next year.

"For 2014, it's completely impossible not only because of the lack of tyre development time," he told Autosport. "Even if Hankook wants to take three, four, five years to jump into Formula One as a supplier, the lack of testing opportunities would make it impossible. With the current cars and drivers, it's impossible [to test] so you need to find a suitable number of vehicles and drivers that would allow you to get some reliable feedback."

Realistically, Eckert thinks it would take three years to develop a Formula One tyre

"Even if we started this year with the first tyre test, it would take easily three years until you can finish a safe and performing F1 tyre," he said. "Now the regulations are changing; engine formula, chassis, and aerodynamics... nobody even knows about the dimensions of the tyres for 2014 - they are still not fixed. It's not 100% certain they'll continue with 13-inch tyres. It might be 15 or even 17. It could happen in the next five years that F1 cars are on 18-inch tyres."

[1Lemon]

Heres an idea. Allow testing again!

[What's Burning?]

How long did Pirelli have from the time Bridgestone announced their withdrawal? it wasn't 3 years.

[darwin dali]

How long did Pirelli have from the time Bridgestone announced their withdrawal? it wasn't 3 years.

Yeah, I was surprised by that Hankook statement, too. One year should be enough.

[What's Burning?]

How long did Pirelli have from the time Bridgestone announced their withdrawal? it wasn't 3 years.

Yeah, I was surprised by that Hankook statement, too. One year should be enough.

I was surprised by Hancook being in the running. Performance tire market has a lot of "players" but not all of them are are respected. Hankook is still working it's way up the perception equals price range ladder. The Ventus R-S3 is not a bad tire though.

[myownalias]

Personally I'd like to see many tyre makers in the sport, that adds another wildcard to the mix, I don't think F1 has been the same with a single tyre supplier. F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport, which I believe has been slowly eroded by FIA interference, freezing designs, single tyre supplier, banning innovation, allow more freedom to independently develop technologies within a certain scope!

[racechick]

I agree Myown.

[What's Burning?]

It would even out the playing field quite a bit and allow a mid field team that makes the right tire choice, be competitive with the leaders or high budget teams that may not make the same call. It would also create (hopefully) a tire/team alliance similar to the way engines are today.

[darwin dali]

Problem is how viable would it be for multiple tire companies to develop F1 tires for just 2 or 3 teams on the grid?

[What's Burning?]

Problem is how viable would it be for multiple tire companies to develop F1 tires for just 2 or 3 teams on the grid?

it takes on a whole new meaning if it's a co-relationship, with sponsorship adding to the value. And let me tell you bragging rights that your tires were on the WCC team or WDC driver would really mean something... No vendor would create tires that disintegrated then. Perhaps a mandatory number of pit stops per circuit to prevent pit stop shortcuts.

[darwin dali]

Problem is how viable would it be for multiple tire companies to develop F1 tires for just 2 or 3 teams on the grid?

it takes on a whole new meaning if it's a co-relationship, with sponsorship adding to the value. And let me tell you bragging rights that your tires were on the WCC team or WDC driver would really mean something... No vendor would create tires that disintegrated then. Perhaps a mandatory number of pit stops per circuit to prevent pit stop shortcuts.

There can only be one winner, so sooner or later the other tire companies would fall off the grid once their board sees the costs and not much to show for.

[What's Burning?]

Problem is how viable would it be for multiple tire companies to develop F1 tires for just 2 or 3 teams on the grid?

it takes on a whole new meaning if it's a co-relationship, with sponsorship adding to the value. And let me tell you bragging rights that your tires were on the WCC team or WDC driver would really mean something... No vendor would create tires that disintegrated then. Perhaps a mandatory number of pit stops per circuit to prevent pit stop shortcuts.

There can only be one winner, so sooner or later the other tire companies would fall off the grid once their board sees the costs and not much to show for.

I don't know about that... you could consolidate costs by having a neutral entity deliver the tires to the venues (that's a big chunk of the cost) so if it's split into multiple vendors, it lessens the pain. Then you have the F1 association so you get the same level of advertising. Lastly you're not producing the same amount of rubber, so just focusing on making the best tires to suit your associated team/s.

Like I said, no different to how we have multiple engine vendors today... same type of relationship. Don't forget Pirelli IS getting paid to provide their service.

[madbrad]

I agree the lack of testing hampers the tire supplier, and discourages any tire maker from considering F1, but Hankook's 3 year statement surprises me.
Besides tires, I find testing to be a part of the excitement of the sport for fans. An element of boringness is added with the ban on testing. But I understand about the saving money aspect for small teams.
I don't like the engine freeze either. Very boring. I like to see "works" garagiste teams. Not all customers with the same level of engine development.
But back to tire, Their decision to have a single tire supplier seems so bizarre to me. I want to see at least 2 tire makers warring. We need some excitement in this sport! Lordy, my friends and workmates who know nothing of the sport that keep calling it boring are becoming right!