Should F1 have more than one tyre supplier?

[Bram Hengeveld]

Personally I am getting pretty bored with seeing only Pirelli as the tyre supplier for F1. Teams, chassis, drivers and engines can still make the difference but tyres are all the same.

What do you think? Should we have more than one supplier for racing rubber? Yes / No, let yourself be heard in the comments below.

 

[gherthort]

I would say yes but Indianapolis 2005 put a bad taste in my mouth so its a no for me.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

That's one race

 

[Sasha Jednak]

Imagine if we had another supplier in 2012/13/18/21, and their tyres hold without issue while Pirelli has to be changed. We would have multiple Indy 2005, and I would love every bit of it. Especially if all rules got changed for before each season Pirelli.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Bring in a tyre war and we'll need refuelling to make there be any kind of strategy, and refuelling made racing boring. If we had another company like Hankook come in as a supplier, the companies would begin to develop tyres that can be pushed for a whole GP without losing performance plus super soft quali tyres. The current Pirelli tyres aren't the best tyres the company could make, they're what the teams and organisers asked for after the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix.

Sounds cool and all, but the quality of racing would decrease as we can see now that differing strategies are what makes Grand Prix racing exciting as pit stops can break up an equilibrium if the race has got stale at that part.

Tyre wars create a horrible mess. 2005 Indy is the most common example, but it wasn't the only problem during that time. What happens when one tyre supplier is much better than the other and teams aren't allowed to swap after choosing? If you want to know about how bad tyre wars can get, there are some great videos about when Hoosier tyres came into NASCAR for a few years in the 80s and 90s and the absolute show that followed.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

What happens when one tyre supplier is much better than the other and teams aren't allowed to swap after choosing?

That's what sport is all about no? Pushing it to the boundaries and beyond to become the best.

What happens when one engine supplier is better than the other (Mercedes for the last decade), teams aren't allowed to change engines either. They should be pushed and stimulated to improve their engines (no tokens, no development pauze). Just spend as much as you need to become the fastest after clever enginering.

 

[Antony Snook]

I would like to see another tire supplier in F1. But you have to understand the rulle is you want a pitstop mid way. You dont want somone going 2/3rd distance before the stop. So the tire is designed to loose performance mid way into the race. Forcing a one stop strategey to pull cars in around the same time. There is nothing wrong with having more tire suppliers but they will have to develop the tire to same rules. People who are fans complain about Pirelli and it may be them or the teams or just plain nature or racing that causees the tire faliures. Another company will make Pirelli pick up their game as they fight over another suplier over who they supply. But a company will get a Monopoly and push rivals out. Puting us back to square one.

 

[Jimlaad43]

That's what sport is all about no? Pushing it to the boundaries and beyond to become the best.

What happens when one engine supplier is better than the other (Mercedes for the last decade), teams aren't allowed to change engines either. They should be pushed and stimulated to improve their engines (no tokens, no development pauze). Just spend as much as you need to become the fastest after clever enginering.

Why bring in another variable that will inevitably screw a team over from the start?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

No. Cost, favoritism etc. No thank you.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I am for letting go of all variables and make the innovative technology leading again at all costs

No more limitations on engine tokens and design upgrades, no limits on the use of qualification ends, no spending cap, no DRS, no more pretending F1 is a green series, etc

I mean why do we care if Ferrari wants to spend 3 billion a year to create a championship winning car with a brutal sounding V12 engine? Why can't a team not waste an engine every racing weekend?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I mean why do we care if Ferrari wants to spend 3 billion a year to create a championship winning car with a brutal sounding V12 engine? Why can't a team not waste an engine every racing weekend?

It would lead to a championship like DTM. In terms of amount of manufactures I'm afraid.

What I do feel however, is that the rules could/should be opened up now that they have a budget cap.

 

[Guido Trampe]

I am oke with the tyre arrangement at the moment. The fuelsaving during race, not so much. I would love to see refuling get back into the game and let the cars go al-in the whole race.

 

[Antony Snook]

I would say yes but Indianapolis 2005 put a bad taste in my mouth so its a no for me.

The problem was the track had been diamond grinded on the oval and Michalin did not come prepared for the rougher texture on the oval. Leading to Ralf Schumacher having a hard faliure in practice or qualifying. The tire manufacturer has to be informed of chainges like this. And testing should have been done with a generic F1 car that is not provided by a team. Pirelli had a test car and had Pedro De la Rosa to drive it.