Bridgestone to end F1 deal
Bridgestone Motorsport is to pull-out of Formula 1 at the end of the next season to cut costs.
The company, the sport’s official tyre supplier, says it will not renew its contract beyond the 2011 season.
According to a statement, the decision follows “considerable and lengthy evaluations” and is based on a “need to redirect its resources” towards development of new technology and products.
The Japanese tyre company has been hit by the worldwide drop in car sales and has said that it expects net profit fall by 42% in 2009.
It has been involved in F1 since 1997 and signed a three-year deal to be official supplier in 2008.
The decision will be a blow to F1 bosses at the end of a year that has seen the sport hit by financial difficulties and a number of scandals.
Both Honda and BMW have pulled out of F1 in the past 12 months and the sport has been engulfed by controversy including the race-fixing controversy that led to a two-year suspended ban for Renault and McLaren admitting to deliberately misleading a steward inquiry.
