Ecclestone: Michelin ideas bad for F1

Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone does not believe the potential return of Michelin as tire supplier would be good for the sport.

Neither of those suggestions interests Ecclestone, who told AUTOSPORT: "At the moment Pirelli have gone through a period where they know exactly what we want. That's always difficult for them because if they make a tire that is a bit on the limit, as we know, they get slaughtered. But in the meantime they are prepared to do that.

"All Michelin would do is make a rock-hard tire that you could put on in January and take off in December, because they don't want to be in a position where they can be criticized. That would make absolutely 100 percent sure, if there was a question mark about Mercedes winning, it would be removed.

"It would be all the things we don't want, and goes against all the things Pirelli have had the courage to do from what we have asked, which has made for some bloody good racing. If we had a rock-hard tire, we could just forget about that."

Ecclestone is also unimpressed by Michelin's preference for 18-inch tires.

"I don't like them. They're horrible looking," he said. "We want our cars to look aggressive, to look like racecars.

"Pirelli will always do what we ask them to do, and if we had to have an 18-inch rim they could do it. But we change things that don't need changing, and things that need changing, we don't change.

"At the moment we don't need to change the tires because what is currently working works well."

It is expected there will be a proposal on the table from Pirelli at Thursday's Strategy Group meeting to switch from the current 375mm width rear tires to 425mm, last seen in 1992.

Originally on Autosport.com