Bridgestone to quit F1

Grim.

From crash.net

Bridgestone Motorsport has announced that it will leave F1 at the end of the 2010 world championship campaign, becoming the third major manufacturer to walk away from the grid in the space of two years – though it insisted the global credit crunch was not the root cause.

Bridgestone entered F1 back in 1997 as a rival to Goodyear, and has been the sport's sole tyre-supplier since 2007 – a year earlier than scheduled – following Michelin's premature withdrawal in the wake of the Indianapolis débâcle. Its current contract expires at the end of next year, but only a day after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Tokyo-based company has revealed that there will be no renewal, casting uncertainty over just who will next pick up the mantle – with Michelin thought distinctly unlikely to return.

'Bridgestone today announced that it will not enter into a new tyre supply contract with the FIA Formula One World Championship,' read an official statement, explaining that it was 'addressing the impact of the continuing evolution of the business environment'.

'The decision made by the board of directors of Bridgestone comes after considerable and lengthy evaluations, and has been based on the company's need to redirect its resources towards the further intensive development of innovative technologies and strategic products. While we understand and respect the reasons for this decision, it has nevertheless come as a great disappointment.

'Bridgestone's relationship with the FIA Formula One World Championship stretches beyond being a tyre-supplier. F1 has been of strategic importance to Bridgestone in developing its technologies and the recognition of Bridgestone as a leader in the global tyre industry, raising the company's brand awareness and providing its strategic business units around the globe with promotional and marketing tools that are intrinsically linked to our company's core products.

'In 1996, Bridgestone's brand recognition in Europe's five largest countries was 13 per cent, but by 2003 it had risen to 34 per cent. In recent years the arrival of Bahrain and China to the F1 championship has enabled Bridgestone to increase its activity in the Middle East and Far East. Having achieved these goals, Bridgestone is now poised to take its technological and brand-building efforts to the next level.

'Our sincere appreciation is also extended to Mr. Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One Management, the Formula 1 teams with whom it has been an honour to have worked alongside, and the many Formula 1 fans who have followed our activities over the past 13 years. I would also like to thank the staff of the Bridgestone Motorsport team for their professionalism, dedication and hard work, and for their passion for excellence.

'It remains only to re-iterate that Bridgestone continues to be wholly committed to the provision of safe tyres of the highest quality to the FIA Formula One World Championship in 2010, and to the running of its tyre-servicing operation at the highest level.'

According to The Associated Press, Bridgestone – one of the world's two largest tyre-makers, along with Michelin – revealed a net loss of 38.34 billion yen ($420 million) for the first half of 2009, contrasting starkly with the profit of 37.24 billion yen in the same period of 2008. The net profit for the current financial year to March 2010 is expected to plummet by 42 percent year-on-year to six billion yen ($66.7 million). Last month it was announced that 900 jobs would go at plants in Australia and New Zealand, as the automotive recession increasingly takes its toll worldwide.

The international economic downturn, indeed, has claimed a number of high-profile F1 casualties, with Honda being the first to pull the plug on what is now Brawn GP last December, BMW following suit in selling off the former Sauber operation and doubts over the ongoing participation of Renault F1 and Toyota, which elected not to continue hosting the Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji Motor Speedway that it owns.

Other Japanese companies have also been in the wars of late, with Subaru and Suzuki ending their official participation in the World Rally Championship last year, Kawasaki quitting MotoGP and Mitsubishi ending its support of the Dakar Rally.

Bridgestone has explained that one of its new priorities will be the development of more environmentally-friendly products and strategic technologies – and the company has insisted that it will endeavour to re-assign as many of its staff as possible at its headquarters in Kodaira to the west of Tokyo, with no decision yet made on possible job losses.

“The business environment is changing greatly,” company spokesman Makoto Shiomi told AFP, dismissing speculation that the credit crunch had played a significant role in the decision. “We need to concentrate our management resources on strategic areas and technological innovation.”

“The company has decided to redistribute its resources as part of a changing business strategy,” added public relations manager Kaoru Tomizawa, speaking to Reuters. “There has been a change of direction towards further developing areas of the business where demand is greatest and which support the company's aims. It is not mainly the depressed economic situation; we are looking more at where tyre demand needs to be focused.

“We still have a year left in F1, so no final decision has been taken on how it will impact the employees – but we would like to respect their contribution before deciding about that.”

MotoGp tyre supply will remain unaffected

Frank Bullitt

Wonder who will be replacing them?

c0mpliant

If I were a betting man I'd say Pirelli.
I doubt that Goodyear will be want to come back, Continental don't really have a Motorsport range, Michelin got burned and probably won't be back for a long while.

Pirelli is the next already makes tyres for a number of motorsport events, they could just move in

Grim.

aye i would hazard a guess at Pirelli or Dunlop

maybe Avon?

vectra

Grim. wrote: »

aye i would hazard a guess at Pirelli or Dunlop

maybe Avon?

I was about to suggest Avon as well..

Dorsanty

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Interesting stuff it would be better for the sport if they had more than one tyre supplier. Three would be a nice number leaving plenty of room for the old "I lost the race due to X tyre not being as good as Y tyre in the hot conditions" excuse at the end of races.

Oh sweet lord no! Did you not watch the seasons with the 2 manufacturers. It started out with Bridgestone winning because they had the experience and Michelin sucked in cool and wet weather. Then there was a time when each track meant one tyre make was the better choice over the other which was fine but then there was like a half a season where Bridgestone lost out to Michelin at pretty much all tracks. I think there was talk that Ferrari put pressure on Bridgestone to make some advances in the late stages of the season as it battled with Renault for the championship.

Similarly in Moto GP 2 tyre makes made for sucky viewing when one manufacturer eventually dominated the sport and the riders who were on the wrong tyre were left behind and there was nothing they could do. Moto GP quickly saw to it that the series became a one tyre sport again.

Nothing annoys fans more then their fav team sucking for a season because of something that the team and driver can't even control.

thebman

It will be a pretty big loss for F1 IMO. It looks bad for the sport too.

Grim.

Wonder could bernie end up paying bridgestones costs so they stick with f1

T-Maxx

Pardon my ignorance, but why not let each team secure their own tyre sponsorship deal from whoever they see fit?

Cookie_Monster

T-Maxx wrote: »

Pardon my ignorance, but why not let each team secure their own tyre sponsorship deal from whoever they see fit?

I doubt the tyre companies would be that interested in supplying only 1-2 teams if it came to that

amacachi

T-Maxx wrote: »

Pardon my ignorance, but why not let each team secure their own tyre sponsorship deal from whoever they see fit?

Cost/competitiveness. R&D on F1 tyres would be huge and it would just come down to another case of some teams throwing money at it, which they're trying to get away from.

thegoth

For the recorded I HATED having two supplier.

Take this weekend gone by. Instead of having mayve three teams that could have won, you would likely have had 2 had most as one team would have been on tyre A and the others on tyre B.

Hated the whole thing of cars on tyre A being faster some weekend and vice versa.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

One championship. One tyre for everyone

frostie500

Bridgestone have probably left because there is no tyre war. Without a competitor a manufacturer only get headlines for a blowout etc. and can't develop tyres and technology as a result of the lack of competition. As a result of this they recieve less publicity and get less value for money so the lack of a tyre war forces their pull out.

Similarly in Moto GP 2 tyre makes made for sucky viewing when one manufacturer eventually dominated the sport and the riders who were on the wrong tyre were left behind and there was nothing they could do. Moto GP quickly saw to it that the series became a one tyre sport again. Nothing annoys fans more then their fav team sucking for a season because of something that the team and driver can't even control.

This is an inaccurate statement the racing was never dull in MotoGP!
Also the 500cc class and MotoGP never had a single tyre rule until this year, and for most seasons had at least two tyres. Up until 2007 there were three manufacturers(Michelin, Dunlop and Bridgestone) and then Dunlop dropped out. it was only in 2007 that you could make of a claim that Bridgestone dominated, but this was more due to Casey Stoner winning ten of 18 races. This however had as much to do with a change in the regs for tyre use as it did to Bridgestone developing a significantly better tyre. For the first time riders had to decide on tyres and compounds prior to Friday practice and were not allowed to put any construction onto the bike in the race and this hurt the Michelin teams.

In 2008 Rossi moved to Bridgestone and won the title. However to see the performance differential of the tyres Pedrosa is a relevant comparison. He changed to Bridgestones after Germany and had two wins on Michelins and had an average points haul of 17.1 and was second in the championship. Once he went to Bridgestone he had an averge haul of 9.75. So its fair to say that at least with Pedrosa who was at the top of his game prior to the tyre switch performed worse after changing. As a result it quite probable that the Bridgestone wasn't a significantly better tyre then the Michelin in MotoGP and certainly wasn't a dominant tyre.

frostie500

thegoth wrote: »

For the recorded I HATED having two supplier.

Take this weekend gone by. Instead of having mayve three teams that could have won, you would likely have had 2 had most as one team would have been on tyre A and the others on tyre B.

Hated the whole thing of cars on tyre A being faster some weekend and vice versa.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

One championship. One tyre for everyone

Formula 1 is about the pinnacle of technology, why should this not extend to the tyres also?

Frank Bullitt

I doubt there will be 2 companies in F1 again,the last thing F1 would want is another american grand prix 2005 on their hands.

oneofakind32

Bridgestone is currently ranked largest tire manufacturer in the global tire market - wikipedia

If the largest tire manufacturer in the world cant afford to be in F1 anymore who can? The FIA are going to have to change there approch to tire suppliers. They cant expect a manufacturer to pay for the privalige of supplying tires to F1 in this day and age. I would think that the FIA will break and offer bridgestone a better deal before the end of 2010.

frostie500

oneofakind32 wrote: »

If the largest tire manufacturer in the world cant afford to be in F1 anymore who can? The FIA are going to have to change there approch to tire suppliers. They cant expect a manufacturer to pay for the privalige of supplying tires to F1 in this day and age. I would think that the FIA will break and offer bridgestone a better deal before the end of 2010.

It's not about being able to afford to do F1, it's about getting sufficient return on investment. They probably can not get the return due to the fact that they no longer are developing tyres and therefore have no real pipeline from F1 to their performance road tyres so the board decided it best to pull out of F1

Grim.

from crash.net

Pirelli has become the first tyre manufacturer to publicly state that it is not interested in replacing Bridgestone as the official supplier to the F1 World Championship from 2011.

Bridgestone announced on Monday that it will not be renewing its contract to provide rubber to the top flight's competitors after it expires at the end of next season a move that will bring down the curtain on a relationship that began with just five teams in 1997, and expanded to take in the entire grid in 2007 following rival Michelin's premature withdrawal in the wake of the Indianapolis débâcle two years earlier.

That has left F1 desperately seeking a new tyre partner, and with Pirelli's proclaimed disinterest and the unlikelihood of Michelin returning following the infamous US Grand Prix episode – when governing body the FIA refused to allow eleventh-hour alterations to be made to the track layout following a series of dangerous failures and accidents for cars fitted with the French company's rubber in practice and qualifying – the options are narrowing.

“Pirelli's previous position on F1 hasn't changed,” a spokeswoman for the Italian organisation told Reuters. “Pirelli prefers to develop tyres for racing that will also be used on the road. Pirelli sponsors Superbikes (BSB and WSBK), the World Rally Championship and GT2.”

Other names mentioned in connection with assuming Bridgestone's F1 responsibilities have been Goodyear, Dunlop, Kumho, Avon, Hankook and Continental. To have your say on who will most likely step into the breach,

Oblomov

At such short notice, I doubt if any of the known big tyre manufacturers will want in

GT radial of China, some Korean tyre people.. Kumho, Hankook, outsiders Toyo Tyres, Alliance, SD international.... possible Cooper tyres are all possibles

Who were the A1GP tyre suppliers?

frostie500

Oblomov wrote: »

Who were the A1GP tyre suppliers?

I think it was Avon

thebman

Here's hoping Goodyear come back

Iron Hide

frostie500 wrote: »

I think it was Avon

Nah twas Michelin.. F1 could do with more than a single supplier tbh, keep things competitive..

Mike Litoris

Hmm Goodyear Eagles with the yellow writing would look good on the ferrari again now that it's not pink anymore.

Robbo

Nankang Ditchfinders ftw.

Let's not deny it, tyres have become far too advanced in motorsport these days and that's a lot of the reason why the cars don't move around as much (or at all). Let's have some cheap ass Twin Cam fodder on the back of F1 cars and watch the mayhem unfold.

Bonus points to whatever team runs them on Superlites.

Oblomov

Here's hoping Goodyear come back

Apparently already declined the offer and the same with Firestone....

class1comp

It would be interesting if they had to run an E marked tyre:D

hi_sir

Robbo wrote: »

Nankang Ditchfinders ftw.

Let's not deny it, tyres have become far too advanced in motorsport these days and that's a lot of the reason why the cars don't move around as much (or at all). Let's have some cheap ass Twin Cam fodder on the back of F1 cars and watch the mayhem unfold.

Bonus points to whatever team runs them on Superlites.

you said it sir :D:D

class1comp

class1comp wrote: »

It would be interesting if they had to run an E marked tyre:D

And at least 70 profile on current 13" F1 wheel diameter:D:D