Pirelli Chairman Ready to Commit as Long-Term F1 Partner

Having replaced Bridgestone as the sole provider for Formula One tyres at the start of the season, sickness Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera, for sale has declared his company is ready to be a long-term partner of the sport.

The firm will be paid Eur1.25m (US$1.8m) by each of the 12 teams per year for the next three campaigns under the terms of the recent agreement after the company’s previous partnership with F1 ended in 1991.

Tronchetti is hoping that Pirelli’s involvement in F1 will help to boost sales in key markets around the world, ed with India debuting on the race calendar this season and circuits in America and Russia set to be introduced in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

The Pirelli chairman told Reuters: “It is a long-term project if it’s affordable. It is always depending on costs. We left because of the cost, we came back because it was affordable and we will continue to stay if the teams are providing us the opportunity to stay. I think the experience we are making makes us more comfortable in staying in, and then it depends on costs.

“We were asked to create more emotions and we did it, with safe tyres lasting enough but not too much, which is really very difficult. We reached the target, which is more difficult to build tyres that last for the entire Grand Prix. The tyres perform well. What we did in nine months proved that we are ready to do anything.”

Tronchetti also expressed an interest in staying in the sport even if competition between suppliers is ultimately allowed, adding: “It is easier in a sense because to produce tyres for a few teams you can make the fine tuning with each of them.”