Pirelli is to keep his monopoly position in the Formula One as tyre supplier. Today the supplier and the Formula One came to a new agreement for the years 2020 until 2023, the reason no other companies applied or were chosen for the reason the Formula One will change to 18 inch tyres in 2021.
It seems there were no serious bids from other suppliers who were interested to supply the Formula One with some new South Korean or French rubber instead oft he Italian rubber. To be honest I’m surprised. A few months ago the big interest was there from Michelin and Hankook, as you could read before on the website.
Why did they refuse to make a bid? Probably because the Formula One will switch to 18 inch tyres in 2021. This means that the supplier has to develop for just one season the old tyres, and the same time have to develop the 18 inch tyres.Double costs means double trouble as you need two teams working two different type of tyres, besides all the test work that needs to be done.
Will 2021 bring that much new in the Formula One? Well it doesn’t. There are no new engine suppliers and there won’t be new tyre suppliers in the Formula One.Chase Carey is happy that the FOM was able to make the new agreement with Pirelli, as Pirelli is important for the Formula One.
Pirelli is Formula One’s supplier since 2011 when Bridgestone decided to leave the Formula One at the end of 2010.
A short statement from Pirelli said that the company would continue what it was doing, and wouldn’t bring much updates / changes to the current tyres until2021 when the 18 inch rims arrive.
I still believe it would be better to have multiple tyre suppliers in the Formula One, also more engine suppliers, to make the Formula One more interesting for companies to compete. Now everything stays more or less the same with no major changes with is a missed change for the Formula One.
