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Pirelli has Competition to be F1 Tyre Supplier in 2020

Published 09/02/2018, 8:51 AM EDT

FIA president Jean Todt has confirmed that multiple companies are vying to become an F1 tyre. The deadline to submit an application closed on Friday, at the end of August.

Current tyre supplier, Pirelli’s contract will expire at the end of the 2019 season. The Italian manufacturer has been the tyre supplier to all teams since 2011.

As part of the planned revision of the F1 technical regulations for 2021, the FIA confirmed in July it would be switching to 18-inch wheels for that season, one year after the new tyre supply contract will begin.

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This meant that any interested party would have to create a tyre for 13-inch wheels for 2020 before the producing a new tyre from 2021, with this requirement acting as one factor in Michelin’s decision not to bid for the contract.

The deadline to submit an application for the new tyre contract passed at midnight on Friday, with Pirelli expected to be joined in the running by Korean company Hankook.

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With regard to the 2020 tyre plans, Todt admitted that he did not have any details on the companies who submitted a proposal. However, he knew there was more than one party involved in the process.

“The ending of the tender was last night at midnight,” Todt said. “I don’t have the result yet of who has been applying for the tender. I know it’s more than one.

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“But I knew since a while now, before August, that Michelin were not going to compete for the tender.”

Michelin had earlier confirmed that they had no interest in returning to F1 in the future. They are already supplying for the likes of WEC, WRC, MotoGP, Formula E and many other series. Adding F1 to their repertoire would only stretch their resources and funds even further.

Another question that remains to be answered is, will we have another tyre war like between 2001 to 2006?

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.