And the clouds and rain as the global 2nd “excitement” sponsor
There’s never another bidder
Michelin won’t do F1 because they don’t want to make artificially degrading tyres. Firestone is happy with Indycar afaik. Pirelli is really the only major option for F1.
Given the weird constraints of tyres in F1, I’m not sure how much value this partnership actually brings to Pirelli.
I think the message is “we know enough about tyres that we can make them behave exactly how the customer need them to”, regardless of how sensible those demands actually are.
“Except sometimes you can’t use them more than 18 laps”
True, but I blame the track for that one. Pirelli did the research and averted a pretty scary alternative to that race, where the kerbs ripped the rubber from the hubs at high speed.
I think it’s still a great advertisement having their name on every F1 car. Not only in races but also on every poster etc. And I guess many people think: hey if they can be trusted with f1, I can probably trust them too.
Is it? I actively avoid their tyres. 🤷
I think it were a detriment to their sales and brand they’d pull out. I don’t think anyone sees the performance of F1 tyres and translates that to the performance of their road tyres.
