The International Automobile Federation (FIA) made a bold decision by changing its tire supplier from Bridgestone to Pirelli.

Pirelli will become the next sole tire supplier of the Formula One championship. The Italian company will take over from Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone after the 2010 F1 season and will remain committed to the series from 2011 until 2013 included (three years).

In a meeting set at last week, the agreement for Pirelli to return to Formula One after a lengthy absence was green-lighted by both F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone and FIA President Jean Todt.

“Pirelli has been selected as the single tyre supplier for the FIA F1 world championship for a period of three years, commencing in 2011,” said the FIA in a statement.

The return of Pirelli in Formula One ends months of uncertainty on which manufacturer would supply tires to the pre-eminent racing series in the world. A host of manufacturers, including Hanook, Michelin, and Pirelli all made bids to take the reigns from Bridgestone beginning in 2011. In the end, the Italian tire maker was chosen from the field and will begin its newest stint in Formula One starting next year.

Also, the committee made some changes about the safety of…

And that’s not because of some new technology those guys will be introducing next year.

But because at the end of the 2010 F1 season, the sport will have no tire manufacturer to turn to with Bridgestone set to quit at the end of this campaign.

And since Michelin, which was F1’s ”other” tire manufacturer a few years back, is still reluctant to return to the sport, Formula One is scrambling to find a solution before this season is over.

So who’s to blame for this yet another fiasco? Well, the ”powers – that – be” of course.

It was only four years ago when the French manufacturer, Michelin, walked away from the sport after the ”powers – that – be” decided to switch to a single manufacturer, enabling Michelin’s rivals, Bridgestone, to monopolize F1’s tire demands.

Now that Bridgestone is quitting they expect Michelin to just return? Well, at least Michelin is interested in making a return to the sport, provided that they have competition.

”We are interested in it but it must be right, who know what will happen,” a senior Michelin company spokesman said in an interview with Racecar Engineering.

”Certain things have to be done, we must have competition, we do not want to be the only supplier.”

”Also we need to be able to use the the opportunity of competition to…”

This year’s war for the Formula One championship is seeing red again. Michael Schumacher and the red blur from his Ferrari.

In front of an adoring hometown crowd, Michael Schumacher dominated his home grand prix at Hockenheim, winning the 2006 German Grand Prix a mere +0.7 seconds ahead of Ferrari teammate, Felipe Massa.

Just so you know, F1 championship leader and Renault ace driver, Fernando Alonso, finished 5th. And he kept on whining how his Michelin tires screwed him of a win in Germany. He he… Poor bastard.

In the midst of it all, Renault boss Flavio Briatore has urged his team not to panic in the face of this Ferrari onslaught and what they officially admit was their ”most difficult race weekend of the season” at Hockenheim last Sunday.

The Renaults of Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella were hopelessly off the pace in Germany this weekend as Michael Schumacher won his fourth successive victory.

The team has been rocked by the FIA’s decision to ban the damping system they have used for over a year, but, publicly at least, Renault is…

Damn. Whatever happened to Kimi Raikkonen and team McLaren – Mercedes?

After ending the last Formula One season with a lot of promise, they became the fastest car in all of F1 after all late in the season but Alonso just got a whole bunch of points already to seal the 2005 F1 championship, the McLaren – Mercedes team is somewhat, non-existent this year.

Yup, that’s after they got a remarkable color change that will leave car enthusiasts drooling.

This season, the McLaren F1 machine is just all show and no, well… FLOW… so to speak. Hell, Kimi Raikkonen only has 39 measly points compared to Fernando Alonso’s whopping 84 for the drivers championship for crying out loud and Team McLaren has only scored 65 points to Renault’s 121.

Yup, I guess you can say that this season is virtually over as far as the Silver and Black is concerned. (Again…) Jeez Kimi, you gotta win one race.

Well, at the 2006 US Grand Prix, maybe either Kimi or Juan Pablo Montoya will win one for McLaren. Heck, they…

”I have never finished on the podium there, and that is one of my goals for 2006.”

Words from a very confident Fernando Alonso. Fresh from his three-straight victories in Spain, Monaco and Britain, Alonso is certainly looking good coming into the halfway point of the Formula One season.

However, as Alonso said, Canada is his Achilles Heel and if the 2004 AND 2005 F1 seasons were to tell us anything, the stupid Spaniard will come out short yet again.

”Canada was one of the races on my ‘to-do’ list at the start of the season. I have never finished on the podium there, and that is one of my goals for 2006. So I will be really pushing to get a strong result there,” Alonso said.

”In the past few years, this has always been a very good circuit for the Renault car. I didn’t finish in 2005 or 2004, but we were very quick in both races, and I set the fastest lap in 2003. It will be a good track for us, I think,” he adds.

The R26 has excellent aerodynamics, a strong engine, good traction and is stable under braking, all characteristics that will suit the difficult…