Tire war "best thing for Formula 1," Villeneuve says

Formula 1's 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has backed Fernando Alonso's call for a return of a tire war to improve the show.

Double world champion Alonso argued that F1 was better off when Michelin and Bridgestone went head to head from 2001-06. However, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and Toro Rosso chief Franz Tost are firmly against the idea.

Villeneuve told AUTOSPORT: "The best thing that could happen to F1 is a tire war. There was a tire war in 1997 when Bridgestone arrived and we got amazing tires because of that."

Tost has suggested that only the best teams will get good tires while the rest will "just get the scraps." But Villeneuve disagrees, although he said it is logical that the bigger teams develop the rubber.

"I heard comments from Tost who said only the good teams get the best tires," he said. "Well, no. OK, the good teams develop the tires which is logical, the better teams should.

"It shouldn't be the small ones who decide. That's life.

"A lot of tires, they are picked by random so you cannot favor one team to another."

The FIA has opened the tire tender process for 2017-'19, with Pirelli's current contract due to expire at the end of 2016.

Pirelli has said it intends to stay in the sport if "the regulations are the ones we agree upon," while Michelin, last involved in the sport in 2006, is considering a return.

Originally on Autosport.com