Pirelli wants to stay in F1 beyond 2013

Pirelli has been the sole manufacturer for Formula 1 since the beginning of the 2011 season and the Italian company signed a contract for three years. This contract will therefore end in just over a year, at the end of the 2013 season. But Paul Hembery, the head of competition at Pirelli, has stated that the Italian brand wishes to continue in F1: “If the sport wants to continue with us, if the overall conditions remain competitive and the sport shares our vision for going further, then it remains an attractive proposition for Pirelli,” Hembery said in an interview with ESPNF1.

Hembery also indicated that the question of a single manufacturer, or not, from 2014 would not be addressed before June 2013, but he still hopes to have a decision a bit earlier: “We should have a decision by June of next year. That’s the deadline, even though it’s very late, and in reality, I think we need an indication before the end of this year.”

Paul Hembery also touched on the marketing aspect of Pirelli’s involvement in F1, he believes it has allowed the Italian brand to develop internationally: “We see a great advantage in a sport that is truly global – in fact, you struggle to find any that are truly global every year. Most international sports tend to be like the Olympic Games and in a single location. Clearly, that creates a lot of interest from a global perspective, but it is only every four years. So F1 is a unique proposition from that point of view and it attracts us because we are expanding in regions like Asia and in countries like Russia and the United States. […] These are areas where we want to be seen, so it fits perfectly with our business plan.”

Hembery reiterated once again that he was against a tire war in F1, as he believes that from both a sporting and financial perspective, it is not interesting: « There are two points of view. If I put on my engineer’s hat, then obviously competing with another manufacturer is very stimulating, exciting, and it creates internal interest. If I put on my marketing hat, from what we’ve seen – and we are present in several championships like GT or rally – it is very difficult to sell your expertise by beating another manufacturer. In the end, motorsport is always a matter of drivers and cars, and no one is going to say they won thanks to the tires – it’s always the driver and the car. So even when you win, it is very difficult to convince the public of your real impact. »