Bridgestone have just announced that they have had enough and will cease to be a supplier of tyres to Formula 1 at the end of the 2010 season.

When you think how much each hand made tyre must cost and each of the 20 cars uses at least 28 tyres per weekend they bring 3 dry compounds, then the monsoon wets and the intermediates then all the R&D and enormous transport, equipment and fitting costs, perhaps little wonder after 14 years will it be, they are calling time.

As sole supplier now ,they are not in any publicity comparison battle to prove they are any better than another brand... so why would their participation in F1 make you buy their tyres for your road car ( especially as they are in the group of highest price replacement tyres).

There will have been many times in the past when a tyre supply pull-out has caused problems for teams.
I remember in the early eighties even days before the start of the season Toleman had no tyre supplier and had been testing their car on Avons made for historic F1 racing.

Makes you wonder who will be prepared to take on this burden, or perhaps they could all end up having to pay full retail for every tyre they all use !

Apparently Toyota are to call a press conference on 15th Nov to announce their plans or otherwise for 2010.

We may see a flurry of sponsor announcements now the season is over, much might change.

My own opinion is that over the long run competition is almost always a positive. With nothing to prove, and no one to compete against, it seems useless for B'stone to remain in F1, especially considering the enormous costs. I would like to see the single manufacturer rule done away with. Although I don't necessarily appreciate races being won based on tire superiority I think that is still preferable to having a contrived situation such as the one we have now: single manufacturer spec tires with two dry compounds, both of which must be used during the race. Frankly, with refuelling banned next year, I'd like to see the same rule apply to tire changes (except in the instance of tire failure of course). Take pit stops out of the equation. Leave the winning and losing in the hands of the drivers, not the tacticians and the pit crew.

The position of companies like Bridgestone in F1 reminds me of the question that DSJ would ask after being told of a win, "Who did he (they) beat?" I can't see the business sense in spending the vast amounts that Bridgestone do in a monopoly situation. Everyone knows that the winning car is going to be on their tyres, and I wouldn't have thought that two or three stops for fresh rubber during a GP, added to comments from Martin Brundle like "His tyres have gone off, he's losing pace" after ten or fifteen laps, were exactly positive in image terms. I know it's going back about fifty years, but didn't Jim Clark do four whole race meetings, winning all four races, some time in the 60s on a single set of Dunlops?

The single tyre rule was silly really. It just seemed to be a way of getting back at Michelin for the Indianapolis fiasco.

It can't help that they are obliged to run two types of tyre, when one isn't as good as the other they are guaranteed to hear that a particular set of tyres doesn't work well.
I don't understand the logic of knobbling the cars in an attempt to make up for the lack of action, there are much easier ways to run handicap races without generating negative publicity for the tyre manufacturer.
But in the end while we still have tyre changes it's always going to be artificial and it is hard to understand why a tyre manufacturer would want to advertise that their tyres can't even last 200 miles in these cost cutting times!!!

The only good thing seems to be that they made it pretty clear the problem is with F1 rather than the economic climate, maybe the 'new' FIA will realise that chess type strategies are boring and do something about it, but it is hard to see them doing anything other than helping Fiat.

I agree with the previous two posts, the FIA have gone to enormous lengths to equalise the F1 engines and then mandate that for a portion of the race the cars have to run on jelly.

Bridgestone are a fine company who came in because of the competition, and I suspect have left because of the lack of it.

Will be interesting to see if they stick with MotoGP...

Don't I recall that BCE owned a tyre company which stepped into the breach once before ?

And anyone going to bet against his old mates Pirelli making a sudden announcement in the next few days that they are 'evaluating the situation'.

I think we're all waiting for the inevitable announcement from Engelbert.

or possibly Rapson

I wonder how much faster the new compound tyres are then the older dunlops were
I would guess 3-4 sec a lap just for the compound not the wider or radial types used now
sure they could go back to hard tyres

might be fun to see them run a stock street type tyre
you know the old racing improves the breed BS

Good riddance to them. Their tyres can't be much good if they have to keep changing them every 20 minutes.

Toyota have just announced their withdrawal from formula 1 with immediate effect.

You now have to wonder if and why Renault and Mercedes Benz will continue.

Clearly with the loss of big car manufacturer support and reversion to privateers buying their own engines that urgent substantial further cost cutting will be needed.

I suspect Mercedes-Benz will continue as an engine supplier as that must be far less costly than running their own team. Maybe Renault will go the same way as they did previously.

From memory Avon stepped-in at the start of the 1981 'European season' allied to IRTS (International Race Tyre Services?) which I believe was a BCE concern. This was after Goodyear withdrew I seem to recall, and although they ultimately made an about-turn Avon/IRTS stuck around until mid-1982.

Well if Avon came back in, they'd probably use their US parent company brand 'Cooper Tires', as they did in A1-GP previously or in the British F3 championship this year.

This afternoon Wednesday Mr Ecclestone and Mr Brawn are to be interviewed live on BBC Radio 5 909 and 693 on the medium wave after 3.00pm by Simon Mayoh.
The normal proceedure on this daily radio programme is that guests take questions live by phone, e-mail and text.

We are used to Mr Ecclestone replying to questions " I have no idea , you will have to ask him, it's nothing to do with me " .

Might just be worth tuning in to ?

That leaves Dunlop then...

So if the FIA follow their logic on engines and gearboxes teams will have to make one set last four races.

Green spots anyone ?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8343221.stm

House of cards!!

I think it reveals much about Toyota F1's speed of reaction that this evening there is still NO mention of the team's closure on their official website.

Ah so?

DCN

I gather Renault are on the edge now tonight..........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8343221.stm

Funny, that brings up the identical page to the link that picblanc posted!

Renault considers Formula 1 exit
By Andrew Benson



Renault could become the fourth manufacturer to quit F1 in a year
Renault have held an emergency board meeting in Paris to discuss pulling out of Formula 1 with immediate effect.

The French car company was considering whether to remain in the sport with its own team, switch to simply being an engine supplier or quit altogether.

The outcome of Wednesday's meeting was not immediately forthcoming.

News of Renault's possible exit comes on the day Toyota said it was quitting F1, becoming the third car company to leave the sport in the last 11 months.

Renault's emergency board meeting was attended by F1 team bosses Bob Bell and Jean-Francois Caubet, although neither man was allowed to take part in the debate about the team's future.

ANDREW BENSON BLOG
Renault have motorsport in their blood

Renault have had their least competitive F1 season since 2002 and finished eighth out of 10 teams in the constructors' championship after Sunday's final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

The company came under scrutiny for the team's involvement in the Singapore 2008 race-fixing scandal, in which they decided not to contest charges that they had asked Nelson Piquet Jr to crash to aid team-mate Fernando Alonso's bid for victory.


I believe Renault will continue - Jordan
Motorsport's governing body the FIA gave Renault a ban from F1, suspended for two years, as punishment, while team bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds were forbidden from attending FIA-sanctioned events.

Last month, Renault signed the highly-rated Polish driver Robert Kubica to lead their team in 2010 as a replacement for double world champion Alonso, who has moved to Ferrari.

Robert Kubica must be feeling like the unluckiest man in F1.

All of that is from yesterday...keep up!

Kubica to McLaren I reckon.

I hope Formula And Rally Tyres Services step into the breach, as the acronym on their vans looks really quite good, and sums up the whole sorry mess. Wasn't it LJK Setright, that on seeing the first Gold Leaf Lotus, said, "sponsorship in formula one, give it a few years it will implode upon itself", wonder if now's the time?