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Quote from Autoweek.com :

Michelin sues FIA

French tire giant Michelin took unprecedented legal action against the world motorsports governing body, FIA, after it failed to win the contract to supply the World Rally Championship with control tires for the next three years.

After the FIA awarded the contract to rival firm Pirelli rather than Michelin-owned BFGoodrich (Competition, March 12), Michelin’s competition director Frederic Henry-Biabaud claimed the FIA had made its decision “for reasons that have nothing to do with sport.” Michelin’s complaint filed against the FIA in a French court asks that the decision “be annulled due to irregularities in the tender process.”

Henry-Biabaud pointed out that the decision to award the contract to Pirelli was “strange, given that all the manufacturers supported us.”

Manufacturer representatives make up only one element of the voting panel on the World Rallies Commission, which also consists of many other groups, such as event and commercial representatives.

The FIA would not comment on the case, but a senior Pirelli source said, “What [Michelin is] doing is madness. They are publicly accusing the FIA of corruption, and the FIA will not like that suggestion. This is simply suicidal if Michelin wants any kind of future in FIA-sanctioned motorsport.”

Michelin’s action is backed by world champion team Citroën, which has threatened to pull out of the sport if it is forced to run on Pirellis next year. Citroën has a multi-million-dollar deal with Michelin to supply tires for its road cars.

Even more drama for the FIA to deal with. I'm going to have to side with Michelin on this one, the Pirelli deal seems very, very shady.

Meh, Michelin tyres are overpriced and arn't any good anyway

Quote from JamesK :

Meh, Michelin tyres are overpriced and arn't any good anyway

agreed

The only winners in this shitty lawsuit is the lawyers. The FIA makes the rules and the teams enter, NOT the other way round.

Didn't some privateers use Pirellis?

Just give the contract to the highest bidder (IIRC some teams PAY for their tyres to be used in the top end of motorsport). If the teams don't like it, they can form a breakaway series.

FIA is gey as . so im laughing off this :haha:

I want to sue FIA for ruining F1, WRC, FIA GT... and pretty much all the other series too and inventing a new definition for the word "boring"!

Wasn't the deal already given to Michelin at some point in last year, after Pirelli "pulled" out?

even though i'm generally opposed to using lawyers to sort out problems, i'm with michelin on this one. FIA has been doing some very odd things lately.

Keep in mind, FIA stands for F*****g Idiots All of them.

Quote from evilgeek :

even though i'm generally opposed to using lawyers to sort out problems, i'm with michelin on this one. FIA has been doing some very odd things lately.

I agree this seems like a very strange decisions since the BFGoodrich tyres were the tyre of choice, seems like the FIA are still holding a grudge towards Michelin. And hell, when is it ever like a french company not to pickanother french company (going by the majority of the FIA being based and run by french people)

I am with Michelin too. The Pirelli tyres were utter shite last year, they could barely complete a single stage without overheating or getting a puncture. Like it says most of the teams support Michelin because their tyres are reliable.

I also doubt that Citreons threat of pulling out is a bluff, the multi-million deal they have with Michelin is worth more than the benefits of running in an event with very poor TV coverage.

So FIA have basically forced Michelin out of Formula One, now it seems they're doing the same thing to then in WRC. Someone at Michelin must have pissed off Mr Mosley quite alot lol.

Quote from Virtual-R :

So FIA have basically forced Michelin out of Formula One, now it seems they're doing the same thing to then in WRC. Someone at Michelin must have pissed off Mr Mosley quite alot lol.

Michelin were never forced out of F1. They didn't want to be the only tyre manufacture. They said they'd rather have the competition aspect over producing one tyre for the whole grid.

Something Michelin are known to be good at is the level of commitment and service they show to every team and in cases like MotoGP every rider.