Formula One
Roughly four years after Mongrip made jewellery out of some of late F1 star Ayrton Senna’s tyres, the company has partnered with the Keep Fighting Foundation to make a new collection of limited edition bracelets made from some of Michael Schumacher’s F1 tyres. Specifically, the bracelets are being made out of legendary 1996 Monza GP tyres in a bid to pay homage to “the extraordinary seven-time Formula 1 World Champion.”
Formula One is sticking with Pirelli as tyre supplier for the 2025 to 2027 seasons, but Bridgestone comments that both the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and Formula One Group (FOG) responded favourably to its proposed “advanced innovative technology and sustainability initiatives.” Furthermore, the Japanese manufacturer doesn’t rule out throwing its hat into the F1 ring at a later date.
The FIA has confirmed Pirelli as sole Formula 1 tyre supplier for 2025-2027, with an option to extend the agreement for a further year. This announcement follows a detailed technical analysis of tender submissions from both Pirelli and Bridgestone.
According to comments from Florent Menegaux, we shouldn’t expect to see Michelin in Formula One from 2025. Speaking to US-based automotive site The Drive, the chief executive stated that Michelin isn’t interested in supplying tyres to F1 unless the FIA alters its view on how they should perform. In short, the French firm doesn’t want to make tyres that liven proceedings by falling apart.
13-time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard has slammed the current generation of Formula One tyres, which are supplied by Pirelli. Speaking in an interview with RaceFans.net, Coulthard said Pirelli era tyres resulted in boring races: “This whole Pirelli era is just confusing to me and boring to me to have to talk about, and super-boring for me to have to listen to the drivers going ‘I was trying to avoid pushing too hard on the tyres’.”
Following consultation and review between the FIA, Formula 1 and all ten teams, on 26 April the FIA Formula 1 Commission unanimously approved the adoption of a Sprint Qualifying at three Grands Prix during the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship. These events will be held at two European and one non-European venue.
Pirelli, as title sponsor of this weekend’s F1 event in Imola – the Gran Premio del Made in Italy e dell’Emilia Romagna – is supplying the race trophies. The tyre maker turned to Alice Ronchi to supply the creativity, selecting the artist for this project thanks to her collaboration with Pirelli HangarBicocca, the non-profit foundation dedicated to the production and promotion of contemporary art established within a converted warehouse in Milan in 2004.
Murray Walker, whose voice became virtually synonymous with Formula One, has died aged 97. Walker commented on his first Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1949 and became a full-time F1 commentator in 1978, a position he held for the next 23 years. Such was the esteem in which Walker is held within the Formula One fraternity, a constellation of racing stars have celebrated his life. Following the news of Walker’s death, which was announced over the weekend of 13 and 14 March 2021, seven-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton summed up their words: “The iconic voice of our sport and a great man, thank you for all you did, you will never be forgotten”.
After the postponement of the season opener due to the coronavirus, the first Formula 1 race of the year will take place this weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. The same event will feature another premiere: Pirelli’s new 18-inch racing tyres will also be used for the first time, but initially only in Formula 2. Their debut in Formula 1 will follow later.
Following government calls for automotive manufacturers to assist with ventilator production during the Covid-19 crisis, the Mercedes AMG F1 team has developed a breathing aid designed to help keep patients out of intensive care. The device was adapted by mechanical engineers at UCL and clinicians at UCLH working with Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (Mercedes-AMG HPP) and has been approved for use in the NHS.
Formula 1 teams based in the UK are working with the government and other groups to help address a shortage of respiratory equipment amid the coronavirus crisis. The news follows a government call for businesses to help increase the supply of ventilators to hospitals. According to an official statement, the teams have expert design, technology and production capabilities, and specialise in rapid prototyping and high value manufacturing, which is hoped can be applied to the critical needs set out by Government.
Formula 2 is already established as the place to watch the Formula 1 drivers of tomorrow. In 2020, the championship will also be home to a new technological innovation as it adopts 18-inch tyres from Pirelli: the same size that will be raced in Formula 1 from 2021 onwards.
The Monegasque and Senna brands have launched a limited edition range of bracelets made from a tyre used by Ayrton Senna during legendary F1 Grand Prix at Donington Park.
Pirelli will remain global tyre partner of the FIA Formula One World Championship until the end of the 2023 season after extending its current contract – which lasts until the end of the 2019 season – for a further four years. Pirelli notes that the agreement to extend the partnership was “completed in a short timeframe” on the back of the “successful partnership over recent years.”
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Matthew Spencer; Flickr; CC-BY-2.0
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