Pirelli advise against tyre-war: "Would be expensive for F1"

Pirelli motorsports director Mario Isola has warned the F1 that it will be expensive for the sport to have another 'tyre-war' between Pirelli and another tyre manufacturer.

Isola does acknowledge that the Formula One currently has no plans of adding another tyre manufacturer to the mix again, but he does say his company would be ready to compete, should it happen.

“The direction of Formula 1  is still to have one supplier," he told ESPN.

"Obviously what is changing quickly but the single supplier is saving money for everybody.

“If you introduce, again, what they call the ‘tyre war’ or multiple suppliers you have to consider that in the past it was necessary to have additional test sessions or in the past the teams had a proper tyre test team and obviously this means additional costs.

“If they want to reduce the cost, this is probably not the right direction.”

Pirelli became the sole supplier of tyres to F1 in 2011, after Bridgestone had a four-year period before the Italians. 2006 was the last year where there were multiple tyre manufacturers competing, with Michelin and Bridgestone being the options for the teams.

If the idea makes a comeback, Isola is not scared of the competition.

“If they decide to come back to this situation as we said in the past, we are ready to face also this new challenge.

“You supply the same tyres to everybody so you can have a tyre with high degradation, with different targets.

"If we are in competition with our tyre supplier the target is just performance. It is clear. It’s like for teams.

“Their target is safety for sure but safety is a target, it’s always there, it’s always a priority but after that it’s just performance,” he concluded.