Bridgestone Quitting F1

Bridgestone to quit F1 late of 2010 season

The axe has dropped on yet another historical company of Japan. This time is Bridgestone following the footsteps of Honda quitting F1. Bridgestone has announced it will withdraw from Formula One at the end of next season, after opting not to renew the company's official tyre supply deal with the sport.

Bridgestone Corp said Monday it would stop supplying tyres to Formula One late next year after its main rivals Michelin of France and US maker Goodyear withdrew from the sport years earlier. The Japanese manufacturer has been the sole supplier of tyres to Formula One since 2007, and in 2008 signed a three-year deal to become F1's official tyre supplier.


Officially, Bridgestone are saying that the decision not to renew was as a result of the company redirect resources towards “intensive development of innovative technologies and strategic products”, but the effect of the worldwide recession that has hit since 2008 cannot be entirely dismissed either.


Japanese carmakers since the start of the worldwide economic slump have been cutting production and thousands of jobs as consumer demand has plummeted and a strong yen has eroded overseas earnings.


Toyota has backed off from hosting Fuji Speedway Grand Prix. Subaru had also pulled off from the World rally Championship despite winning quite a number of titles. Mitsubishi followed suit by not contesting in the Dakar Rally in early February this year.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems that current global recession has hit the motorsport world badly. Will we ever get to see the revival of these great Japanese carmakers in the future ? It is currently very dim, slowly but surely they make a comeback eventually, right ?