By role
May 7 2004

After the FIA meeting with team managers last Tuesday at Monaco everybody left the room with a sense of happiness and that things were going to look better for the future of the sport. One of the biggest rule changes seem to be approved by 2006 will be the single tyre supplier. This measure is implemented as a way for teams to save money as they spend a huge amount in tyre testing every year in order to gain some advantage over their rivals supplied with another tyre manufacture.

At the present time there are two tyre companies who supply teams. French manufacturer Michelin supplies 60% of the grid and has on its roster four of the five top teams on the constructors championship: Renault, Williams, Bar and McLaren. Japanese Bridgestone is the supplier of The World Champion Ferrari team, who also currently leads the standings, as well as Sauber, Jordan and Minardi.

Besides the fact that Michelin teams outscore Bridgestone teams by 76 to 65 it is also true that leading Ferrari has more than double the points of the runner up on the championship Renault. With a 33 pointy advantage over 4 races few doubt that Ferrari, and Bridgestone, will win again the World Constructors Championship.

The idea of Max Mosley, and the rest of the teams, is that by 2006 to have tyre manufactures bid for the contract to become the single supplier of the series:

“There was complete agreement for the need of a single tyre supplier. There was just one question about current contractual commitments, which we think could be resolved. But there was no question that all of the teams recognized that if we had a single tyre supplier it would be far less expensive, because of testing, it would be fairer, because everybody would be on the same basis, and there would also be a very important safety aspect in that with a single tyre we would be able to control the degree of grip and therefore preventing excessive cornering speeds. We might even be able to give up the grooves and go back to ordinary slick tyres.” Said Mosley in a public speech after the race.

However, this change ahs not been taken nicely by the tyre manufacturers. As Atlas F1 reports Michelin is not happy with these solutions and has already said that they would not bid for such a supplying contract. The reasons is their aim to compete on the championship with other tyre manufacturers:

"We don't like this idea at all," said Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin's sporting director, to Atlas F1. "Every time we entered officially into racing, it was with a partner - and in order to try, along with him, to help him be better than the opposition. The opposition included one of our competitors. So in that aspect, being the sole tyre supplier, will not help in any way any of our partners, since everybody will have the same tyres.”

"In addition, our intention is to find out - and possibly to prove - that we are doing a better job than the other guys in the tyre industry. So in those conditions it will not be possible for us any more." He concluded.

Renault, that currently uses Michelin Tyres, has made no secret their intentions of challenging for the title in 2005. However, if the single tyre supplier rule become a fact for 2006 one may consider the motivation that Michelin may have to continue to invest money and resources to a sport where they are not going to continue and this could affect the Anglo French squad in their aims.