Formula 1's long-running process of selecting a replacement tire supplier is expected to move a step nearer to an end game on Wednesday when the FIA's World Motor Sport Council meets in Geneva to decide on future rules.
After weeks of uncertainty about which tire company would be picked, with teams having closed in on finalizing terms with Pirelli; the FIA is expected to issue its first public statement about its own intentions for the future after the meeting. Although the governing body could simply ratify the teams' preferred choice, AUTOSPORT reports that there remains a possibility the matter could be put out to open bid, as FIA president Jean Todt recently suggested in a recent interview with French newspaper Le Parisien.
Although a bidding process – even if Pirelli is the only company that officially implies – could lead to a further delay in confirming the tire supplier for next season, F1 teams are already able to begin design work on their 2011 cars because they have agreed to a document laying down specific technical demands from whoever wins the tire contract.
The WMSC may also approve plans for a post-season tire test with the new rubber – with teams having discussed the possibility of a four-day run in either Abu Dhabi or Bahrain after 2010 the season finale.
Approval is also expected to be given to a host of other regulations that have already been signed off by F1 working groups and the F1 Commission, which met on Monday. These are believed to include rules to introduce movable rear wings in 2011, getting rid of the movable front wings, confirming a ban on F-ducts, and a tweak to the safety car regulations after the controversy of Michael Schumacher's last-lap move on Fernando Alonso in Monaco.
The WMSC is also set to give approval to a name change for the team still officially known as BMW Sauber, losing the now obsolescent "BMW" portion of the moniker following the German car manufacturer's withdrawal from F1 at the end of last season.
Also on the agenda for the WMSC meeting is whether disciplinary action will be taken against US F1 for its failure to make the grid at the start of this season. A statement issued by the FIA earlier this year said that Todt had been given the all clear to pursue whatever action he felt right regarding the US F1 situation.
The statement, issued after a March meeting of the WMSC, said: "With regard to the US F1 team's non-participation in the 2010 championship, the world council mandated the FIA president, in full compliance with the new code of practice for disciplinary matters, to take forward the most appropriate action."