The 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix marked the end of an era as Michelin bowed out of Formula One for the second time in the company’s history. However, the possibility of a future return to motor racing’s premier series has not been ruled out. In fact, reading between the lines, it seems that this is the manufacturer’s intention if the sport’s rules are changed.

The Clermont-Ferrand-based company has competed in 216 world championship grand prix, initially from 1977-1984 and more recently from 2001-2006. During that time it scored 102 victories with seven teams and 20 drivers en route to amassing five drivers championship titles and constructors titles. And, according to Michelin, this is the reason for leaving Formula 1. “Michelin…believes that competition improves the breed,” the company said in a press statement.

Michelin has had a considerable impact on Formula One since its returned in 2001 – so much so that it was supplying 70 per cent of the field by 2005 and had other potential clients queuing up. The same year the manufacturer confirmed that 2006 would be its final campaign in F1.

Michelin considers it performance during its second run in Formula 1 to have been a great success, despite the embarrassment of the US Grand Prix disaster in 2005. Michelin puts its low points down to “the changing nature of the sport,” indirectly commenting that the tyre regulations were altered at the end of 2004 and again one year later, but adding: each time Michelin “responded effectively”. Renault proved as much by sweeping to a championship double in 2005 and repeating that feat during the season just past.

The final straw for Michelin was FIA’s decision to have a single tyre supplier from 2008 – a decision that Michelin said “dilutes an element of the cutting-edge competition the sport is supposed to represent.” Michelin thus opted to pull out at the end of the 2006 campaign.

As Michelin’s motorsport director Frédéric Henry-Biabaud says: “F1 is supposed to be competition in its purest form and you eliminate a key part of that if you remove the rivalry between tyre manufacturers. I don’t see the appeal in participating in a series on those terms. We compete in F1 to prove we are able to give our partner teams a performance edge. If you are in the sport on your own, people will talk about tyres only if some kind of problem arises. As Edouard Michelin used to say: ‘In an arena where its motorsport products finish simultaneously first and last, there is no marketing value.”

The effort that goes into a sport like Formula 1 is truly phenomenal. Nick Shorrock, a 30-year Michelin veteran and recent F1 programme director, has overseen 27 race victories since becoming the company’s Formula One director at the beginning of the 2005 season.
“Throughout the whole of 2005 we ran two different types of front casing and five rears during race weekends. This year, as we have tried to meet teams’ individual needs, we have used six front casings and 15 rears and have tested about 150 different compounds and 65 casings. We’ve also brought more than 60 compounds to the 18 races, about twice as many as we used in 2005. I think those figures reflect our more focused approach,” Shorrock explained, commenting: “This has been a fantastic, competitive season – and very rewarding for the company as a whole. Tyres contribute an awful lot to an F1 car’s overall performance and that has been very apparent throughout another successful, title-winning campaign.”

Michelin scored its first F1 victory on January 29 1978 when Carlos Reutemann dominated the Brazilian GP in Rio de Janeiro. The 102nd and most recent fell to Fernando Alonso and Renault in Japan, more than 28 years later. Michelin might be bowing out of F1 but it will remain fiercely committed to other forms of motorsport. Will the Bibendum logo grace grand prix racing ever again? Not in the foreseeable future, perhaps, but this isn’t an industry in which one says “never.”

Michelin happy with new MotoGP rules

Despite Michelin’s dissatisfaction with F1 rules, the manufacturer says new regulations aimed at maintaining competition between tyre manufacturers in the MotoGP World Championship have received its backing. The rules, concerning tyres and testing, come into effect on January 1 2007 and the tyre regulations were formulated following discussions among the three tyre manufacturers involved in MotoGP.

Despite the fact that these represent the first restrictions to be introduced to Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Michelin welcomes their introduction. Says Nicolas Goubert, director of motorcycle racing: “We are happy with the new rules”. Bearing in mind Michelin’s recent refusal to submit a tender for a single tyre supply contract for Formula 1, Goubert makes it plain what Michelin’s attitude is towards competition, saying: “The tyre agreement is a very good agreement, especially if you look at what is happening in other major Motorsport championships, particularly in Formula One switching to a single tyre maker rule.”

“The most important aspect of the new rules is that they ensure we will be able to continue competing with other tyre companies. Carmelo Ezpeleta (CEO of Dorna, the MotoGP rights holders) played a major role in this, he asked the tyre companies to come up with a compromise that would be acceptable to all of us because he wanted different tyre brands to continue fighting on the racetrack.”