Poll on F1 tyre companies

[Belatti]

It surprises me the small amount of votes Goodyear got. I think they did better than Michelin and Pirelli.

[garygph]

I am biased towards Michelin so hence my vote for them. Just love a company that wants to compete and not just be the sole provider.

[Jersey Tom]

16 votes for Pirelli is 16 more than I would have expected!

The few votes for Goodyear... I'm guessing must be because they've been out of the game since '98 and just aren't in many folks recollection. I mean, they only provided several decades of good racing without issue - what more could you want?

Though I'll admit I may be a bit slanted there.. reality is, Michelin Bridgestone and Goodyear all I'm sure could provide excellent products, service, and safety.

[Just_a_fan]

I know an ex-F1 engineer who worked with Goodyear and Bridgestone and he tells me that they were no better than Pirelli. They just made different cock-ups. People have short memories. Fans have short and biased memories. It was always thus.

[lebesset]

16 votes for Pirelli is 16 more than I would have expected!

The few votes for Goodyear... I'm guessing must be because they've been out of the game since '98 and just aren't in many folks recollection. I mean, they only provided several decades of good racing without issue - what more could you want?

Though I'll admit I may be a bit slanted there.. reality is, Michelin Bridgestone and Goodyear all I'm sure could provide excellent products, service, and safety.

maybe it's because , compared to the others in the list and related to their sales , pirelli have been subject to fewer recalls of tyres sold to the public

oh , and the answer to what more could you want , it seems to be ...tyres that spice up the racing now that the cars are so reliable compared to the goodyear era

[Kiril Varbanov]

"Pirelli is in the lead now, P1, P1, Paul, please confirm you understood the message"?

There's nothing wrong with Pirelli - they have tons of experience with sports cars and road civil tires, factories and some great people in R&D.
My biggest concern is the F1 car that they use for tests - Pirelli complained for the lack of it, but I think it's ultimately their responsibility to sort that out. This includes loaning or buying a test car from any team who's willing to sell and support such chassis.

Imagine if the same excuse, the old car one, is used for tires in 2014?

[FoxHound]

I know an ex-F1 engineer who worked with Goodyear and Bridgestone and he tells me that they were no better than Pirelli. They just made different cock-ups. People have short memories. Fans have short and biased memories. It was always thus.

In complete agreement.
Some may not approve of the way Pirelli have gone about their business. But who's to say other manufacturers could provide the same degrading tyre as per the wishes of the FIA, without any testing of current machinery.
A solution to some issues was found, but blocked by certain teams.
The problem is systematic. And this cannot be laid on Pirellis door IMO

[strad]

I mean, they only provided several decades of good racing without issue - what more could you want

My God,,,JT,,We agree on something.

[WhiteBlue]

Make that three. All, the Goodyear issues in F1 were in the sixties and seventies. It shows that they learned something.

[caretaker]

When Pirelli came back, I was delighted !, Then I started to belive perhaps they were actually not such a good "fit" with F1.
Now ? We need Tire WAR !, Three or for suppliers should do it, Teams bring tyre's they choose, Dump two mandated compounds per race, Enforce limited tire allocation(for P3/Q/R). Oh and dump current q rules, Bring back two 1hr jumps,no lap limit. [-o<

[Jersey Tom]

When Pirelli came back, I was delighted !, Then I started to belive perhaps they were actually not such a good "fit" with F1.
Now ? We need Tire WAR !, Three or for suppliers should do it, Teams bring tyre's they choose, Dump two mandated compounds per race, Enforce limited tire allocation(for P3/Q/R). Oh and dump current q rules, Bring back two 1hr jumps,no lap limit. [-o<

From Bridgestone saying, "Screw it we're out" and Pirelli being the company to show interest and actually say "Okay sure we'll do it" I think it is apparent that it is difficult enough to get ONE tire company interested in joining the F1 fray. To get multiple companies involved in a way more expensive tire war.. how would you accomplish it?

Not saying it's a bad concept - I love competition, and would have jumped at the opportunity when I was still working at a tire company - but how does it become practical?

[thisisatest]

Pirelli just aren't in that group, not for bankroll and capabilities, nor for results. Let's put hard numbers to it and talk annual revenue for a number of tire companies:

Bridgestone: 30 billion USD
Michelin: 28 billion USD
Goodyear: 19 billion USD
Pirelli: 8 billion USD
Hankook: 4 billion USD

what about continental? fourth largest, do they even do race tires? or do they max out at high performance street tires?

[FoxHound]

Ferrari 2.433 billion euro
KIA 42.45 billion euro
Hyundai 45 billion euro
TATA motors 32 Billion euro

Turnover is in no way an indicator for competence or nous.
Pirelli could be doing a miraculous job, we just cannot compare it to others.

[caretaker]

When Pirelli came back, I was delighted !, Then I started to belive perhaps they were actually not such a good "fit" with F1.
Now ? We need Tire WAR !, Three or for suppliers should do it, Teams bring tyre's they choose, Dump two mandated compounds per race, Enforce limited tire allocation(for P3/Q/R). Oh and dump current q rules, Bring back two 1hr jumps,no lap limit. [-o<

From Bridgestone saying, "Screw it we're out" and Pirelli being the company to show interest and actually say "Okay sure we'll do it" I think it is apparent that it is difficult enough to get ONE tire company interested in joining the F1 fray. To get multiple companies involved in a way more expensive tire war.. how would you accomplish it?

Not saying it's a bad concept - I love competition, and would have jumped at the opportunity when I was still working at a tire company - but how does it become practical?

I guess if each tyre supplier only deals with a limited number of teams ?, huge expence need not be a reality in truth.
I still cant belive it costs all that much to make an f1 tyre, perhaps in the "modern word" developing tyres is costly but making them ?

Besides all this, i am old skool when f1 applies and I cant stand budget restictions, RRA, Engine freeze, and RUN OFF'S.
If you cant afford to play, Go home !.

F1 should never have been considered relevent to the wider car industry, it's in no way relevent ! ordinary men should be looking in wonder at those beasts, not nodding sagely and confirming to the wife that "our merc's got that on too".

Regards

[WhiteBlue]

F1 should never have been considered relevent to the wider car industry, it's in no way relevent ! ordinary men should be looking in wonder at those beasts, not nodding sagely and confirming to the wife that "our merc's got that on too".

That's a fine sentiment but I'm more with Baretzky's school of thought. Race cars should be exciting and have mind boggling performance and next in line they should provide the manufacturers with a platform to develop the finest technologies that they will later use in their road cars. LMP1 is currently following this kind of philosophy and that is what it makes it so exciting for the technically minded and the engineers. F1 will regret their short-sightedness of pumping all the money into refining arcane bits of carbon fibre panels. If you provide manufacturers a nice platform they will bring tons of money and excitement to the sport. If you deny them any competitive advantage by doing a good job you will be left with geeky technology that nobody has any interest in. Technical forums like this will be populated by armchair aerodynamicists that have no idea of a Bernoulli equation and fanbois will fill the pages of this forum with their drivel.