FIA to make tire rule about face

Autosport Magazine reports that F1’s governing body is poised to make a dramatic U-turn and abandon its support for the category to be supplied by a single tire manufacturer in 2006. At a meeting scheduled for January 28, Autosport understands the FIA will tell teams it no longer believes that moving to a single tire supplier is the best way to reduce costs in the sport. The move marks a significant change in position for FIA President Max Mosley, who last May told a Monaco meeting of F1 team principals: “In my view the advantages of a single tire supplier are huge."

The FIA is expected to introduce a range of cost-cutting measures at the January 28 meeting, many of them focused on restricting the use of exotic materials. Its abandonment of support for one-make tire supply is likely to upset team principals, though, many of whom had been expected to back the move.

The technical director of one major team said: “The tire war is not only killing F1 competition and stopping the lesser-funded teams from running near the front, but it’s by far the single biggest cost saving we could make. The tire war is 10 times any other cost such as gearboxes, etc. It’s no problem to save on these smaller things but it’s senseless to continue with the tire war and it’s completely against everything else that Max has been preaching."