Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFormula 1

Tyre tender for 2017 opened up

The FIA has officially opened up a tyre tender for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Pirelli is currently the official tyre supplier to F1, with its contract due to expire at the end of the 2016 season. With a number of regulation changes planned for 2017, a new tyre tender has also opened up which will look to appoint another single tyre supplier rather than allowing a tyre war. At present, the tender is for 13-inch wheels but the FIA says it is open to change.

Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery says the teams want to stick with one tyre manufacturer and as a result says any questions about potentially allowing a tyre war are obsolete.

“The tender document has come out and that’s a single tyre until the end of 2019,” Hembery said. “That’s reflecting what the teams want … that’s the situation they want to maintain.

“It’s an academic question that has no real answer because there’s so many variables. I can’t say ‘no we don’t want it’ or ‘yes we do’ because you don’t know what parameters you would be involved in. Could you test? Is it going to be done all on simulators? How many teams have you got to supply? There’s so many variables involved.”

The FIA’s tender invites interest from tyre manufacturers before the governing body makes a decision on who should be the sole supplier for the three-year period.

Click here for a look at the technical updates brought by all the teams at the start of the European season

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.