Under the circumstances, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) has one year to find for another sole tire supplier for the Formula One championship, but the problem is nobody seems to be interested. Goodyear and Michelin were both involved in F1 in recent decades, but decided to leave the series due to various reasons (economical, political, etc).
Pirelli, the tire manufacturer that currently provides the World Rally Championship with gravel/asphalt rubber season after season have announced that F1 is not of any interest to them. They argued that decision with the fact that the Italian company wants to continue focusing on tires that can be used in road cars as well.
“Pirelli's previous position on F1 hasn't changed. Pirelli prefers to develop tires for racing that will also be used on the road,” said a spokeswoman for the Italian company.
In addition, Pirelli recently announced that their commitment to the WRC is also under scrutiny, following the high costs involved in developing the tires for the aforementioned championship. If the investment in their WRC programme will continue to be as high, they will likely stop their WRC arrangement at the end of 2010 also.
So, unless the FIA steps in with some decent offers to make the tire supplier position more attractive to companies worldwide, F1 will likely have a problem developing a long-lasting partnership after the upcoming season.
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