F1 News
Creating more competition for Verstappen? Coulthard has the solution
- Ludo van Denderen
Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing were particularly untouchable in Formula 1 last season. The RB19 was so much stronger than the cars of the competition and throughout the season no team managed to structurally come close to Red Bull. David Coulthard knows a way Red Bull could be disrupted: with a change in tyre regulations.
Currently, Pirelli are the only tyre supplier in Formula 1. It was different in the past. Michelin, Bridgestone and others were involved. Two manufacturers competing for the top prizes regularly produced interesting battles. Coulthard is in favour of having a second tyre supplier in Formula 1 again, a party that will compete with Pirelli.
Coulthard in favour of more suppliers
"I don't think there's a desire right now to have a tyre competition, but I think it would be better," the Scot said on the podcast Formula for Success. "Sometimes it would be Pirelli that had the right tyre for the circuit and sometimes, let's say for argument's sake, it was Bridgestone would have the right tyre. So you would naturally have this competitive shift circuit to circuit based on the only thing that touches the ground, which is the tyres."
Eddie Jordan, who was himself team boss in F1 when there were two tyre manufacturers operating, does not quite agree with Coulthard. The Irishman fears that manufacturers will then want to deal mainly with teams that have a chance of winning the world championship and pay them hefty sums of money to do so. "I don't know how you would get the competition in there without having the free fall of the big money," Jordan said.