The Japanese officials announced from as early as last season that they will not pick up the option to extend their deal with F1 from 2011 onwards, due to the high costs involved in the development of the compound tires. In recent months however, both Bernie Ecclestone and FIA president Jean Todt have tried to convince Bridgestone to stay, promising a dramatic drop in development costs for the next season.
This week, the Japanese company confirmed it will extend their tire supplier deal with... the MotoGP championship. Meaning they will continue to partner the premier motorcycle series next year, whereas F1 will drop to second place in their future plans. While this may lead a lot of people to believe F1 is of no longer interest for Bridgestone, it seems like that's hardly the case.
“Obviously we'd have more money to spend (on MotoGP), because the F1 budget is very high, but in my opinion we should stay in F1 too, because our image would lose a lot otherwise,” said Hiroshi Yamada, development boss for Bridgestone's MotoGP programme, according to the GMM news agency.
French tire manufacturer Michelin, against whom Bridgestone competed until 2007, admitted that they are seeking a return to the series for next season, but only on a couple of conditions. First, they want to revive the tire war in F1 – meaning they want at least one other competitor on the tire supplier market in the championship – and second, they want to debut 18-inch wheel rims starting next year (from the current 13-inch wheel rims).
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