Bridgestone versus Michelin

[zan]

Heard the news? Bridgestone was awarded the sole tyre supplier contract until 2010 F1 season.

will teams shod with Michelin suffer in 2007? expecially Renault?? does it really make any difference?

 

[Slipknot Fanatic]

It does make a difference. As you can see some of the new Bridgestone shod teams are still doing lots of tyre testing. This will give an advantage to Ferrari though because of their long-term partnership. Heard Flavio telling the FIA to tell Bridgestone to redesign the tyres to give a level playing field.

 

[zan]

the way i see it...

its not necessary for Bernie to change regulation and stikc to only one tyre supplier. constructor should be free to choose any supplier they prefer to their advantage.

in fact, other than car dimension and engine configuration...i do not think amendments like one set of tyres per race is necessary. i believed it was just introduced to prevent ferrari from keep winning and that's why renault emerged champions last year.

my 2 cents however....:baring_teeth:

 

[Slipknot Fanatic]

Don't think the teams have a choice to choose which tyre they want. Because of last year's USGP it is also the main reason why Michelin want to pull-out. Michelin does not have a good relationship with the FIA compared to Bridgestone. I think the reason why Toyota and Williams swithced to Bridgestone is to have an advantage for next season. Zan, I do agree with you about the one set of tyres per race.

 

[BlackSamurai]

the reason behind behind to limit the tyre supplier in F1 to single supplier is to end the tyre war. What currently happen on the grid is by picking up the "better" tyre supplier (Michelin for the last 2 years), you have immediate advantage. Engine, chassis, aero dynamic and etc becomes secondary.

of course the blind spot of single tyre supplier is that, some team might be the typre supplier "preferred" team to work with (for example, Ferrari and Bridgestone), which give other team disadvantages, and worst still the tyre supplier may able to control the race result by building the tyre which suite the "preferred" partner more.

The single tyre supplier will not solve the problem entirely, FIA shall comes with more straight rules, like test data sharing (tyre related) among team, band "preferred" partner status (officially) and most important for current Michelin runner, develop fair rules for current Michelin runner to adopt Bridgstone tyre.

 

[si|verfish]

Michelin runners will definitely suffer next season. And Ferrari will have an almost unfair advantage, especially given their close ties with Bridgestone. Next year will be an all scarlet affair again I'm afraid.

 

[evo3]

That the reason Mclaren parted with Bridgestone and go for Michelin cos they say Bridgestone prefered Ferrari more.....maybe bridgestone want the new Ferrari sport cars come out with bridgestone tyres... :)

 

[butthead]

It does make a difference. As you can see some of the new Bridgestone shod teams are still doing lots of tyre testing. This will give an advantage to Ferrari though because of their long-term partnership. Heard Flavio telling the FIA to tell Bridgestone to redesign the tyres to give a level playing field.

actually..the more testing they do will only benefit the teams tied to it if the competitor tyre supplier does less testing...if they are all using the same tyre it will more or less level the field a bit..

and how the heck should Bridgestone design a tyre to level the playing field... to give a less grippy compound specially made for Ferrari and McLaren???

the reason behind behind to limit the tyre supplier in F1 to single supplier is to end the tyre war. What currently happen on the grid is by picking up the "better" tyre supplier (Michelin for the last 2 years), you have immediate advantage. Engine, chassis, aero dynamic and etc becomes secondary.

of course the blind spot of single tyre supplier is that, some team might be the typre supplier "preferred" team to work with (for example, Ferrari and Bridgestone), which give other team disadvantages, and worst still the tyre supplier may able to control the race result by building the tyre which suite the "preferred" partner more.

The single tyre supplier will not solve the problem entirely, FIA shall comes with more straight rules, like test data sharing (tyre related) among team, band "preferred" partner status (officially) and most important for current Michelin runner, develop fair rules for current Michelin runner to adopt Bridgstone tyre.

the only advantage i can think of is that... the existing teams running on bridgestones have more or less some experience which can help them tune their car to match the tyres charecteristics...

how do you define "data sharing", what prevents them from withholding important data from being shared...

 

[Slipknot Fanatic]

Well Flavio always come out with stupid ideas. I think given the close ties between Ferrari and Bridgestone don't think they would want to share data with the other teams. What ever data Bridgestone gets from the other teams they would surely share it with Ferrari. Look at last season seven teams had their tyres supplied by Michelin compared to Bridgestone with only three. Now Williams and Toyota are trying to develop close ties with Bridgestone.

 

[butthead]

Well Flavio always come out with stupid ideas. I think given the close ties between Ferrari and Bridgestone don't think they would want to share data with the other teams. What ever data Bridgestone gets from the other teams they would surely share it with Ferrari. Look at last season seven teams had their tyres supplied by Michelin compared to Bridgestone with only three. Now Williams and Toyota are trying to develop close ties with Bridgestone.

yeah... Bridgestone would be ultra grateful to Ferrari for sticking with then when almost everyone else just went to the competitor...

Ferrari are the main contributor to their development for years...

 

[Slipknot Fanatic]

the reason behind behind to limit the tyre supplier in F1 to single supplier is to end the tyre war. What currently happen on the grid is by picking up the "better" tyre supplier (Michelin for the last 2 years), you have immediate advantage. Engine, chassis, aero dynamic and etc becomes secondary.

of course the blind spot of single tyre supplier is that, some team might be the typre supplier "preferred" team to work with (for example, Ferrari and Bridgestone), which give other team disadvantages, and worst still the tyre supplier may able to control the race result by building the tyre which suite the "preferred" partner more.

The single tyre supplier will not solve the problem entirely, FIA shall comes with more straight rules, like test data sharing (tyre related) among team, band "preferred" partner status (officially) and most important for current Michelin runner, develop fair rules for current Michelin runner to adopt Bridgstone tyre.

Even if the FIA were to come up with rules like that, there are always other ways for Bridgestone to share the data of other teams with Ferrari. Ferrari has always stood up for Bridgestone no matter what.