Formula One has featured a sole supplier since Michelin’s exit in 2006, with Bridgestone replaced for 2011 by international holding company Pirelli, whose contract will be available until the end of the 2019 F1 season. An invitation to tender was published by the FIA on Thursday and will be open for interested parties until the end of next month.
Any bidders that meet the FIA’s technical and safety requirements will then be submitted to the Commercial Rights Holder (Liberty Media) which will then conduct negotiations and make the final selection it proposes to be appointed by the FIA. The document posted by the FIA also confirms that Formula 1 expects to switch to 18-inch wheels under the next regulatory cycle in 2021, with the front wheel width reduced from 305mm to 270mm.
Formula 1 currently uses 13-inch wheels, and previously explored 18-inch wheels during a brief test with Lotus in 2014. The performance of tyres fitted to 18-inch wheels “should, when at operating temperature, be at least as good as the 2019 tyres.”
Tyre blankets will also be banned under proposed regulations set to be introduced from 2021, though it is stressed that tyres should still offer “safe performance when leaving the pits cold.” It has been outlined that the “overriding objectives” for tyres are the “improvement of the show, driveability characteristics, absolute performance [and] operating conditions”.
It has been requested that three compounds, a Hard, Medium and Soft, are available at each weekend to “create the maximum number of race strategies yielding race times such that multi-stop strategies provide just enough potential of a beneficial outcome to encourage the greatest variety in racing spectacle.”
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