Budapest, Hungary - Bernie Ecclestone will decide whether Michelin or current supplier Pirelli secures Formula One's three-year tyre contract from 2017 after both companies passed a technical and safety hurdle.
The governing International Automobile Federation said on Wednesday each had met the requirements to become approved bidders and had been submitted to the sport's commercial rights holder.
Ecclestone, the commercial supremo who represents controlling shareholders CVC, will conduct negotiations with both and make a decision for the FIA's World Motor Sport Council to approve.
The FIA body's next scheduled meeting is on 30 September in Paris.
Michelin withdrew from Formula One in 2006, a year after a farcical US Grand Prix that went ahead with only six cars after all the Michelin-equipped teams pulled out on safety grounds.
The sport has had a sole supplier since then, with Bridgestone replaced by Pirelli in 2011.
ROCK HARD
Ecclestone indicated earlier in the year that he favoured retaining Pirelli, which also invests heavily in trackside advertising.
The 84-year-old Briton said in May: “All Michelin would do is make a rock-hard tyre that you could put on in January and take off in December because they don't want to be in a position where they can be criticised.
While the Pirelli F1 compounds have been engineered to degrade, in a move aimed at increasing strategy options and encouraging overtaking, Michelin has said it is not prepared to make a tyre that doesn’t last.
Michelin motorsport head Pascal Couasnon said in June his company also had no interest in supplying tyres to Formula One unless the sport agreed to change the specification from 13 inch to at least 18 inch.
The current FIA tender document opens the way for an increase in diameter “if the tyre manufacturer feels there may be advantages to the competitors by doing so”.
Reuters