JUNE 3, 1996

The FIA's tire proposals

IN an effort to avoid qualifying tires and keep increasing speeds under control in a tire war, the F1 Commission has agreed to propose a series of changes to the FIA World Council which meets in Paris on June 11. The changes - which have been agreed by all the teams - will see the current seven sets of tires per weekend rule retained.

The FIA will insist that any tire company wanting to be involved in F1 must be willing to supply 60% of the field as the rules currently state. Each supplier must undertake to supply the same compounds to all their teams. This does not, however, mean that everyone will get the same performance as tire companies will, inevitably, design their tires to suit a certain car and simply supply these tires to other teams which will struggle to be competitive with them.

Tires must not be multi-compound to avoid different compounds being used in the same tires to create qualifying tires which can later be used in races.

The FIA will also insist on the right to randomly select from the each tire supplier the 12 tires which teams will have to use for the qualifying sessions.

The FIA also reserves the right to change the regulations to decrease cornering speeds if development becomes too intense that safety is called into question. The suggestions in the letter which FIA President Max Mosley sent to the tire companies and the teams included the introduction of a smaller patch of contact between the tires and the road and even the possible use of treaded tires if speeds get out of hand.

What the proposals do not include are restrictions on teams from using tires from one manufacturer for qualifying and from another for the race. That is not very likely to happen - but it is still possible.

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