Pirelli confirms three-year F1 deal extension

2014 F1 season

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Pirelli has confirmed details of its renewed contract to continue as Formula One’s official tyre supplier.

The Italian tyre manufacturer has extended its original three-year contract which began in 2011 by a further three seasons, taking it up to 2016.

“Pirelli will continue to determine the specification of the tyres and to manage all aspects of their development, in close consultation with the FIA and the teams, and within the parameters set out in the FIA Formula One Sporting and Technical Regulations,” it said in a statement.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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23 comments on “Pirelli confirms three-year F1 deal extension”

  1. petebaldwin (@)
    16th January 2014, 11:33

    I can imagine arguments going both ways here but I’m happy they’ve extended their contract. There have been problems so far but to blame them all solely on Pirelli is very harsh.

    They haven’t been asked to create tyres that aren’t very durable by the FIA having been given very little track time for testing. The teams will stretch the limits of how far the tyres will last, often going beyond what is recommended by Pirelli, switch the tyres around so that tyres designed for the left are placed on the right ad so on.

    I can’t see how bringing a new supplier in would benefit anyone as whoever got the job would have to start from the beginning again. Pirelli have already stated they will make more durable tyres for next year which is the right decision and hopefully, they’ll have a trouble-free year so we can get back to talking about the teams and the drivers as opposed to the tyre suppliers!

    1. Mostly I agree with what you are saying, but would suggest that the teams wouldn’t have taken such extreme measures to extract more from the tires if they were better tires. But I agree they were mandated to do as they have with limited testing so I have always defended them from that aspect.

      I don’t think a new supplier would have been starting from scratch though, as I think Bridgestone and Michelin could pretty much jump in and make the same tires F1 is mandating Pirelli to make.

      Sounds like tires shouldn’t be the main story for 2014, but I worry that as the teams sort things out with their steep learning curve, the tires might again be mandated to be more 2012/13-like for 2015 and 2016.

      1. Michelin, Goodyear or Bridgestone in a different league compare to Pirelli. They would never sell out the way Pirelli did, making cr*ap tyres to please who ever ordered the tyres.

    2. My thoughts exactly!

      1. Can’t say I agree. Michelin at one point made ‘crap’ as you call it that couldn’t handle Indy and it caused a fiasco. Bridgestone sold out to make tires exclusively for MS that everyone else using them just had to live with.

        Here’s how I think of it. Any manufacturer that participates in F1 needs to see some marketing impact. If F1 tires are rock solid and stable and barely get a mention as a result, because they aren’t a deciding factor, then we and the commentators barely give tires a mention, and the maker feels no impact from being in F1. If there are two makers in F1, then even stable tires that aren’t the deciding factor, still get a mention all the time throughout races and analysis. The only way Pirelli is happy being a sole supplier is that they get to make tires that always get mentioned. If Michelin, Bridgestone, or Goodyear wanted to be in F1 as a sole supplier, I think they too would prefer then that they make tires that are a bigger part of the story so they become a hot topic and therefore provide impact.

        Imho a tire ‘war’ doesn’t have to mean a return to processions due to rock solid tires of the type we know they all can make and would provide the drivers the ability to push hard all the time (my ultimate hope because this is supposed to be the pinnacle)…it is the dependence on aero downforce that causes the processions. We’ve even seen some of those WITH degrade tires and DRS.

        Anyhoo…on to a new chapter for 2014 and we simply need to see some races to know what the product will be on the track visa vie engines, chassis, less aggressive tires, and somewhat reduced aero, and hopefully it will be an improvement.

  2. I’m amazed it took this long to get a formal extension in place to be honest. Pirelli are a very easy scapegoat and have come in for some very unfair criticism, but when all is said and done they are a very capable manufacturer and they have fulfilled their brief to produce deliberately edgy rubber. I don’t think many companies would have done that knowing that there could be a massive PR backlash. All of the sporting questions their mandate raised and all of the unintended consequences that came as a result cannot be pinned on them, they are the fault of the people who mandated them in the first place.

    1. All of the sporting questions their mandate raised and all of the unintended consequences that came as a result cannot be pinned on them, they are the fault of the people who mandated them in the first place.

      Exactly. Also, Pirelli probably only cares from a fan standpoint. No one out there buying tyres for their commuter car is thinking “well… they blew up on an F1 car- maybe I should hold off”

    2. Indeed, just think about Pirelli not acting in good faith and going on with developing tyres for this year, what a mess the sport would have been in @geemac.

  3. what a pity that the FIA didn’t give pirelli the ability to properly track their tyres from the beginning
    i am not worried about them creating a bridgestone like borefest in 2014 as the regulation changes will prevent that ; however I am concerned that they might continue in a bridgestone type pattern thereafter due to the mudslinging they have suffered due to factors largely not of their own making

  4. Do they make tires on ‘prescription’ or are they free to make whatever compound they want?

    1. Other than the mandate they were given at the start of their contract (to design tyres which degrade) I think they are free to use whatever compounds and constructions they want.

    1. +1 3 more years of the same poo…. funny, with those 3 more years, SV will tie Schumi on titles… coincidence???

  5. I thought this was already formally announced a few months ago? Guess I was wrong…

    1. It was – they’ve just been sorting out the details.

  6. Of everyone, That must be good News for Vettel and Red Bull who are getting very comfortable with Pirelli.

    1. @tmax Couldn´t agree more…. I guess SV will need those tailored tyres to tie Schumi on championships…. coincidence???

  7. I think fuel limits and reliability issues will cause plenty of “excitement” this year and Pirelli will just make some rock solid tires with more grip to help lap times. We don’t need other cars beating F1 on the same track because of the new rules.

    1. I should have been more explicit…I do NOT want Pirelli to add to the “excitement” with degrading tires this year.

  8. I don’t wanna that just the pirelli make and develop tyres.

  9. ..bring back the tyre war!!

  10. Pirelli may have got a lot of crap for the designed-to-degrade tyres but:
    1) These were ordered by the FIA, who also denied them the chance to properly test them for safety,
    2) Pirelli will learn from their mistakes and make a good set of tyres for 2014,
    and 3) Some kind of stability is absolutely necessary for this year. The solution is not to get rid of Pirelli like football clubs do to their managers at the first sign of trouble

    1. These were ordered by the FIA

      No they were not.
      The compound/construction of the tyres is 100% down to Pirelli, Any & all flaws in the compound/construction is 100% Pirelli’s fault.

      According to Bernie all Pirelli were asked to do is make tyres that couldn’t last half race distance. After that its solely down to Pirelli to actually design the tyre compounds/construction & overall philosophy.

      In 2011 they got things right, However going more extreme in 2012 & even more extreme in 2013 caused the problems & the decision to go more extreme was again 100% Pirelli’s decision.

      Pirelli desrve full blame in harming the racing in F1 & making tyres which the drivers by all accounts all hate.

      who also denied them the chance to properly test them for safety

      they have the opportunity to test tyres on friday during race weekends yet very rarely use that chance, that again is solely pirellis fault.

      and remember that pirelli have done test’s with race teams. the mercedes test-gate was 1 example but they had done test’s with other teams before that. and remember that 2013 tyres were tested during the mercedes test-gate yet we still had the silverstone farce.

      pirelli have done nothing but hurt the racing in f1, especially the last 2 seasons where they went ‘extreme’ with thermal degredation.

      they made tyres in 2011 with far less preparation & testing & got a fairly good balance, we didn’t see the drivers nursing the tyres so much, they didn’t fall to bits, didn’t suffer from cuts so easily & were the best tyres pirelli have produced to date.

      looking forward to 2014, with the extra testing they have had/will have, if the tyres still play a big role as in 2012/13 then pirelli should be asked to leave & allow a tyre supplier able to make better tyres to come in, or better yet just allow tyre competition so that we get the best tyres possible rather than the artificial tyres we have had to unfortunately put up & which have along with drs turned many fans away from the sport the past 2 years.

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