Pirelli has confirmed it has agreed a deal to continue as Formula One’s official tyre supplier from 2017 to 2019.
Bernie Ecclestone and Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera appeared together on the grid before the start of the Russian Grand Prix to announce the contract extension.
“We’re delighted to confirm that we reached a commercial agreement with Bernie Ecclestone to remain in Formula One for the 2017-2019 period,” said motorsport director Paul Hembery. “The process to the formal FIA official nomination will follow with its procedure.”
Michelin had submitted a rival tended for the next three-year tyre contract.
Spawinte (@spawinte)
11th October 2015, 13:26
Does this mean we’re stuck on 13 inch wheels? I wouldn’t be so unhappy about this if we got bigger wheels.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
11th October 2015, 16:13
@spawinte Provera didn’t say anything concrete, but he said on Sky that they are ready for any change they are asked to do – but who knows if that just means wider tyres or what.
anon
11th October 2015, 16:42
@hunocsi, and that is one reason why I suspect that Bernie was more willing to deal with Pirelli than Michelin – Pirelli was taken the attitude that they will supply what FOM and the FIA ask for, whilst Michelin took the attitude that the sport should adapt to them and accept their terms.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
11th October 2015, 13:28
The problem with Pirelli is not that they wear a lot (that’s what FIA asked for), but rather that their tyres have the operation window the size of a pea, this was blatantly obvious in qualifying yesterday. They would get tonked in any tyre war with Michelin.
emuLOAD
11th October 2015, 17:28
Thing is, all of these quirks were essentially bernie mandates, in a way or another. Pirelli isn’t very wise to take all this publicity flack just to appease business.
mixwell (@mixwell)
11th October 2015, 13:42
cant wait for 2020 -_-
Patrick (@paeschli)
11th October 2015, 14:04
+1
But in the end it’s not much of surprise.
Lauri (@f1lauri)
11th October 2015, 13:50
I think Pirelli has done a great job taking all the factors into account. It is really hard to have great tyres without testing. We are forgetting, that Pirelli has almost no testing for their tyres!
Ok, they had this Kevlar vs steel belt problem couple of years back, which probably has to do with bringing price of the production down, but they fixed it too. Probably also had a lot to do with not testing the tyres enough and teams running tyres in wrong rotational direction.
Strontium (@strontium)
11th October 2015, 14:04
Oh boy. Nothing against Pirelli but Hembrey should definitely go.
DanYell89
12th October 2015, 8:23
100% Agree!!!
Sven (@crammond)
11th October 2015, 14:06
As a “commercial deal” one of the main things Pirelli get from this would be exposure, so why announce it moments before a race, minimizing rather than maximizing the attention?
RogerA
11th October 2015, 14:24
so 3 more years of crap cheese tyres that the drivers, teams & fans don’t like.
3 more years of tyre management, tiny operating windows, drivers unable to push, tyres several seconds slower than they should be if they were designed for performance & 3 more years of drivers not trying the tyres there racing on.
f1 should be about high performance with tyres & every other aspect of the car designed to be the best it can possibly be. since 2011 we have not had the best tyres, they have been by far the worst tyres in all of motorsport, possibly the worst tyres in the history of motorsport!
tromoly (@tromoly)
11th October 2015, 23:35
Perez ran 77% race distance on softs, and Alonso ran 75% race distance on super-softs.
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
11th October 2015, 14:42
No surprises there; I wish it was otherwise because I’m pretty fed uo with these appaling tires from Pirelli.
Poor F1…
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
11th October 2015, 14:44
Oh for God’s sake! I thought that we were done with these terrible tyres!
Adam Hardwick (@fluxsource)
11th October 2015, 14:46
Bugger
Dom (@3dom)
11th October 2015, 14:58
Have to say I’m disappointed. I feel that the current tyre wear philosophy is wrong. I hope they stick to their promise to reevaluate the philosophy. I agree we need strategy but the driver need to be able to push, surely both should be possible
PeterG
11th October 2015, 15:12
I think yesterday’s GP2 race showed which way they need to take the tyre philosophy.
With the race shortened all the drivers were able to push 100% & not worry about tyre degredation at all & it was a great race, Reminiscent of what GP2 races were like pre-Pirelli tyres.
Corrado (@)
11th October 2015, 16:25
Thank God… we won’t see those cheapskate ricer 20” Michelins rims anytime soon!!!! I don’t know, but when F1 will move to 18” rims and closed cockpits, another big part of its character will be dead meat… and very probably I’ll stop watching it too as I don’t feel that F1 means 22 Caparos T1 racing series.
PeterG
11th October 2015, 19:06
You do realize that Pirelli hasn’t ruled out moving to 18″ rims, They have even done test’s on both F1 & GP2 cars & are just as keen as Michelin are to go in that direction.
Bio
11th October 2015, 22:26
Yes, they ruled out 18 inches wheels. They said they’ll stick to 13 inches rims with wider tyres (400 mm) because that’s what they’ve been asked for.
Dean1369
12th October 2015, 0:08
Bio, it isn’t Pirelli that ruled out going to the 18″ tire, it’s the teams and the FIA. Pirelli position is they will do what is asked of them. Michelin on the other hand only wanted ro return to F1 if they switched from the 13″ to the 18″. The wider tires on the 13″ tires I believe has been agreed to, but not certain if it’s as soon as the 2016 season?
Bio
12th October 2015, 9:30
So what, it doesn’t matter who ruled out the thing. FYI I was referring to Paul being interviewed by the Italian TV saying they ruled out 18″ rims long time ago. They settled for 13″ rims with 420 mm width but the technical group judged those tyres too wide (hence draggy) and finally agreed for a 400 mm width. We are talking 2017 here…
Schmorbraten (@schmorbraten)
11th October 2015, 17:32
There we go, another 3 years with crappy tires, laughable trolley wheels and all because the regulator can’t be bothered to interfere and gifts the decision-making to the money-men. Another piece in the “just-like-wrestling-only-with-added-engines” jigsaw.