How long had Pirelli been thinking about throwing its hat into the F1 ring?
“We had been contacted and analyzed coming back to F1 for the last two to three years. The reason we never looked seriously at committing to it was because F1 was a money-losing operation, and the millions of dollars that Bridgestone and Michelin spent on F1 was not well-justified. It was an enormous investment for a return that was really marginal. So we looked at it, but it was unprofitable and not justified. Six months ago Bridgestone said they were done, and by that point the racing world changed a bit. The series and promoters learned that in this economy, they couldn’t keep squeezing everyone because there were no more free meals for everyone. Since that became clear to them, Pirelli was interested in coming back. It is not that we want to make money, but we do not want to lose our shirt. It was the right conditions to come back and talk. We made our offer and Michelin also made their offer they were competing with us big time but they lost, and we have been flexible enough to me