Sole tyre supplier to be revealed in July
Formula One teams will find out by the start of July who has won the contract to supply tyres in the sport from 2008, after the FIA opened up the tender process on Monday
The FIA have given those companies interested in becoming F1's official tyre supplier until June 23 to submit their tenders, with a decision on the matter due to be taken on July 5.
Bridgestone are currently favourites to win the contract, but they could face competition from Italian company Pirelli.
French tyre manufacturer Michelin could also lodge a surprise entry, even though they announced their withdrawal from the sport at the end of this year because they were unhappy about the move to control tyres.
The winning tyre manufacturer will have to supply the same specification of tyres for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 championships - unless the FIA demands that the type changes in a bid to reduce cornering speeds.
There will be a choice of four compounds of tyres, although only two of these will be made available at each event.
As well as supplying all the tyres teams need to compete at Grands Prix, the tyre manufacturer will have to give each team a maximum of 300 sets of tyres for testing, a maximum of 12 sets for wind-tunnel testing and a number of tyres for show car use.
A prototype of the tyres planned to be used in 2008 must be made available to teams no later than April 1, 2007, with the actual tyres available to the teams from September 1, 2007.
And in a bid to ensure that F1 is not compromised by the winning tyre manufacturer not fulfilling their contractual commitments, the company will be asked to have available a guarantee from a 'top-ranking international financial institution' of 100 million Euros to cover any damages or compensation that the FIA deems necessary if there is a problem.
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