Michelin, jab at Pirelli: "Riders must be able to push 100%"

Like a leaping ball to be caught on the fly and slammed into the net. An easy goal for Michelin, which takes advantage of Pirelli's poor impression at Spa to strengthen its candidacy as tire supplier in F1 since 2017.

The final choice between Michelin and Pirelli, competing with each other to be the official supplier of the Circus, will be up to FOM and therefore to Bernie Ecclestone, with the FIA ​​committed only to expressing its own technical opinion, which is not binding in the final decision. Pascal Couasnon, director of Michelin sport, took inspiration from what happened to Vettel's Ferrari in the Belgian GP to launch his own challenge to the Italian manufacturer, asserting that the objective of the Bibendum company is to improve the performance of the tires and at the same time make them more resistant:

“We saw when it happened in Spa, it makes no sense to have tires that only last ten laps. An F1 tire must be able to last even two thirds of races, it must allow the driver to push at 100%, not having to limit himself to 70% to manage the compounds. Our challenge is to improve the resistance of the tires and at the same time to provide the teams with better performing tyres. It's not easy, but we'll try."

For the record, however, it should be remembered that Michelin, currently involved in many motorsport categories, made a colossal impression in the United States ten years ago, with more than half the F1 grid confined to the pits for safety reasons and the GP contested only by the tires Bridgestone. In short, all that glitters is not gold.

Antonino Rendina

Follow @antorendina