FIA vs Pirelli on changing of tyres: Who will win the battle?

Let’s just sum up the whole matter in short first: Pirelli want to change the tyres after coming under heavy criticism from the teams, especially Red Bull and Mercedes but one specific rule in the FIA Technical Regulations rulebook stops them from going ahead:-

Article 12.6.3 states “Tyre specifications will be determined by the FIA no later than 1 September of the previous season. Once determined in this way, the specification of the tyres will not be changed during the Championship season without the agreement of all competing teams.”

Breaking the rule in parts will help us understand where the problem lies. First of all, the phrase “all competing teams” is nullified straightaway because Lotus and Ferrari are definitely against the tyre change – after all, they have put in so many months of effort just to master those black things and they should get the benefit of that.

Yes, they have reaped the rewards in the first five races but shouldn’t they get such an advantage for the whole season? After all, Red Bull have won the last three championships and the advantage they had from the beginning of the season (particularly 2011, with the exhaust-blown diffuser), was carried till the final race (barring the one-off at Silverstone) and the FIA banned the device only after the end of the season. The same should apply this year too.

The rule also states that the specifications will be determined by the FIA, so it is very well understood that no major changes are possible without the consent of the governing body. It is the duty of the FIA to ensure that no team runs away with the championship year-after-year. That is one reason why FIA doesn’t want Pirelli to make the changes. With the tyres lasting longer, Lotus and Ferrari will also benefit but the delta between them and Red Bull will be much lesser and again, Vettel might be able to repeat his customary pole – out of DRS zone in the early laps – cruise to victory races again: the last thing that Formula 1 as a sport wants.

To prevent Pirelli from bending the rule – more than 2 years of association with the teams would have instilled in the Pirelli engineers that skill – the FIA have clearly stated that the tyre changes may only be for safety purposes and should not cause a major change in wear, working ranges, life etc. Before this statement from the FIA, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said that the changes ‘would not be for safety but to reduce the number of pit-stops’.

Now here lies the problem for the Italian tyre manufacturer. On one side are some of the teams and on the other the big daddy, the FIA. Either way it’s going to be a loss but the magnitude will be much bigger if they go against the FIA. Pirelli definitely want a contract for 2014 and beyond but if they are not on good terms with the FIA, their dream of getting year-long worldwide exposure through the pinnacle of motorsport and what is considered as one of the cornerstones of engineering, would end very soon.

But if Pirelli goes against teams like Mercedes and Red Bull, repercussions might roll over to well outside the world of Formula 1 because these are two of the biggest teams and obviously their non-F1 activities are also very significant, especially Mercedes. Now who wouldn’t like to be associated with such a famous brand like Mercedes? Pirelli themselves have a wide range of road tyres and using them on the famous Mercedes road cars is another great way of gaining publicity, especially outside Europe where tyre manufacturers like Goodyear, Bridgestone, Apollo have a major say.

Things are complicated at the moment and also with the Concorde Agreement not having been signed till now, if Red Bull and Mercedes are not happy with the tyres, then they can abandon the sport altogether which is definitely not desired. Especially with big names such as BMW, Toyota and Honda having left in the past, all the burden can’t be loaded always onto Ferrari’s and McLaren’s shoulders to carry the sport forward.

So we come to the question again – who will win the battle? FIA seems to have the upper hand because what’s written in the Technical Regulations must be followed under all circumstances. In between all of this though, Ferrari and Lotus are smiling away and their dreams of laying their hands on the championship trophies at the end of the year seem to be growing bigger and bigger.