JULY 9, 2002

Tire rules to stay the same in 2003

THE Formula 1 tire regulations are not expected to change in 2003 because the racing authorities and the tire manufacturers have failed to agree on changes to be made.

The tire manufacturers were asked by the FIA to come up with solutions to the worries about the increase in cornering speeds because of the tire war and we believe that it was proposed that there should be harder rubber so that the teams would have to run entire races on the same set of tires. However the tire manufacturers realized that there was a need for pit stops and suggested that these be maintained but for fuel only, unless a team ran into trouble with a puncture. If that occurred the proposal was that no tires could be changed if fuel was taken on board.

The idea was rejected by the FIA and another proposal was put forward by some of the teams which argued that tire manufacturers should supply only one single compound per weekend.

This idea seems to have been rejected by the tire manufacturers.