Comments on: Bridgestone to make surprise F1 exit

By: taurus

taurus — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:17:28 +0000

Bring back ‘yellow’ Goodyears please!!

By: D.B.

D.B. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:04:50 +0000

Keith, Dieter Rencken explains the tyre suppliers plight perfectley in Autosport online.

http://www.autosport.com/features/article.php/id/2478

By: HounslowBusGarage

HounslowBusGarage — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:33:00 +0000

First big test of Jean Todt, init?
“What are we going to race on, Jean?”
“Errr, let me just ask my boy Michael . . .”

By: HounslowBusGarage

HounslowBusGarage — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:29:48 +0000

It’s not about loyalty, it’s about money, and it seems that Formula 1 is too expensive.

I think that’s about right with that. But at the end of your first para you say “Formula 1 didn’t generate the amount of exposure / income . . .” and I think I’d change that to “exposure/income/feeling of success”.
I don’t necessarily think that Mercedes derive a lot of exposure or income from their MacLaren or Brawn involvement, but I *do* think they gain a lot of satisfaction and good feeling about themselves – particularly in relation to their real expenditure. And while the main car producing business continues to be profitable (and the shareholders don’t bleat) they will continue.

By: inc0mmunicado

inc0mmunicado — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:08:13 +0000

I don’t think that makes any sense, are you living in 2004?

The McLaren mp4-19 raced in 2004….

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:55:08 +0000

Toyota is gone now too! So the ex-BMW Team should get back into the sport. But what would happen if no tyre suppliers came forward for 2011?? They would have to nip down to Kwik Fit.

By: wasiF1

wasiF1 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:17:18 +0000

Unfortunate.Will Goodyear be back in F1 or as Michelin doesn’t want sole performance Perilli may be in F1.

By: PinballLes

PinballLes — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:55:54 +0000

I don’t think it’s fair to imply that BMW and Honda left because they did not have skill and racing expertise. Both companies have extensive motor racing history. I’d say they left Formula 1 because being involved in Formula 1 didn’t generate the amount of exposure / income that they required.

With the same amount of cash used for Formula 1 these companies can now spread that cash across different categories, and different events, and marketing campaigns and get a better bang for buck then they would have in Formula 1. Same goes for Bridgestone, and Toyota which has today announced that they are pulling out (http://axisofoversteer.blogspot.com/2009/11/japan-calls-it-quits-on-f1.html).

It’s not about loyalty, it’s about money, and it seems that Formula 1 is too expensive.

By: The Limit

The Limit — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:59:47 +0000

If it is true about Bridgestone’s huge expenses being the reason for them pulling out, then I am surprised and disgusted in equal measure. I have to admit that I was never a fan of the tyre war between Michelin and Bridgestone which if anything damaged the sport in so many ways.
However, as others have mentioned on this post, the so called ‘going green’ excuse for dumping Formula One is getting abit tired now. If anything, the disastrous investment in KERS has proven that the ‘green’ approach may work well selling a brand new coupe, but not so well in producing fast race cars.
The one good thing about the economic downturn is that Formula One is finding out who their true friends our, and which organisations are committed and the ones which are not. The world has been in the doldrums before during F1′s existence, yet teams like Ferrari for example have remained loyal and have been rewared for that loyalty.
The thing is that companies such as BMW and Honda, and now Bridgestone will lose a huge amount of exposure by leaving the worlds second most watched sport globally after football.
Those are cold, hard facts. Facts that are far more damaging to BMW and Honda, who millions of us now know left because they could not ‘buy’ success in a sport based on skill and ‘racing’ expertise.
My money is on Goodyear. A return to slicks in 2009, and return to Goodyear in 2010. This sport really has gone full circle.

By: Polak

Polak — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:25:18 +0000

I don’t think this would work. Often times there is only one compound that works best for all the teams. This means that at some races someone will eventually say the *enter tire manufacturer’s name* was rubbish. Not good for marketing since the manufacturer didn’t have much control over their tire being good on a particular circuit.