This time around there was stiff competition, but after a full analysis of the technical aspects by the FIA, and the commercial package by the F1 organisation, Pirelli was awarded the deal. It covers the 2025-'27 seasons, with an option for a fourth year in 2028.
It was a more complex tender process than previously, with the F2 and F3 contracts wrapped into the F1 arrangement, and a significant element of sustainability also involved as the sport moves towards the Net Zero 2030 goal.
The deal will see Pirelli complete 18 years as the sport's sole supplier, assuming that the option for 2028 is taken up.
The company's latest stint in F1, following previous involvements in 1950-'58, 1981-'86 and 1989-'91, has been hugely successful.
"We as the FIA and F1 chose the right partner to progress in our evolution of the sport of today," says F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. "F1 is the pinnacle, not only of what we see on the track, but what we've developed together. Pirelli has been a very strong, reliable partner, which has shaped the great moments of F1 since the first time they came back.
"Pirelli has proven to be here since a long time, since 1950. So it is really the right recognition of the incredible work that they're doing. And we as the F1 world recognise that, and we know that it is a world that is evolving.
"In these years, there's been a lot of evolution, there is a lot of need that the cars, the drivers, the circuits have taken as a challenge for our Pirelli friends.
"It's part of what F1 has to do, having the right partners on which you can really rely on working together for better racing, and for a better product that can be used also on the mobility side."
For Pirelli executive vice-president Marco Tronchetti Provera the new contract is confirmation of a job well done over the past few years.
"This announcement means the will to continue a partnership that has been successful for all parties involved," he says.
"And thanks to F1, thanks to the FIA, thanks to the co-operation with the teams, I think we're part of an evolution of F1.
"When we entered in 2011 cars were different, there were fewer circuits in which we were racing, and the evolution of products continues to be our duty. F1 racing is part of the DNA of Pirelli."
Tronchetti Provera stresses that above all F1 is the ultimate test bed for Pirelli's technology.
"The speed and the forces in F1 are amazing," he says. "We cannot reproduce these in any other kind of motorsport. Also sport for us is a priority in general, to provide extreme condition testing. Because for us motorsport is an open-air lab. Within this lab, F1 is the top level in which we test new materials."
However it's not just about using F1 for R&D – there is also a significant marketing element to Pirelli's involvement in the sport, and one where the sport's increasing profile in the USA is significant.
"I think there is a balance between the two obviously," says Tronchetti Provera. "And the marketing tool is part of our priorities, as is the fact that F1 is conquering America, which is really something new, and we have to say that Stefano and Liberty Media did an amazing job.
"Because in America it was not known, F1. There were some races, but really people didn't know that F1 existed. Now it's amazing what is happening in America.
"Netflix, obviously, is helping. And I think that these four years in front of us are key, because we are growing in the United States, and we are growing globally in products, environment-related, and performance and safety related."
The numbers also show that the recent surge in interest in F1 has seen a lot of younger fans drawn to the sport.
"This exposure of F1, it's really involving also the young generation, which is something new," says Tronchetti Provera. "It seemed that cars were coming to an end, it was just car sharing, no interest in cars. Now we see that the new generation, and I have grandchildren of 13, 14, 15, are crazy to come to see F1.
"This is F1, something that is amazingly fresh and new, that was considered an old world until a few years ago. Now we have a new generation of young fans of F1. That is the greatness of F1. I think that really the next few years will be for us an amazing experience, and useful for the company."
A successful campaign on the track has boosted Pirelli's day-to-day business, as Tronchetti Provera notes.
"In a world of let's say a competition between players that is totally open, the tyre business, where we fight one with the other, Pirelli been able to achieve 50% of the prestige market," he says. "Which means that Ferraris, McLarens and Aston Martins come out of the factories with Pirelli tyres.
"And we continue to evolve, adding to this leadership on the environment. And now Pirelli is leading the segment of the high-end electric cars with specific products, where sustainability and safety are the priority.
"So now we are combining performance and sustainability in a way where sustainability becomes like safety – it's part of the game."
As noted earlier sustainability was a key element in the latest F1 tyre supply tender process, and Pirelli had to demonstrate its commitment to the issue.
One of the outcomes is that from 2024 its F1 tyres will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which as the company notes means that "the plantations of the forest-based components of the tyres are managed in a way that preserves biological diversity and brings benefits to the lives of local communities and workers, while fostering economic sustainability."
Pirelli was the first company to have its road tyres FSC-certified, and Tronchetti Provera makes it clear that sustainability is an important theme throughout the organisation, and not just in the context of its motorsport involvement.
"We already achieved some important targets," he says. "We are a partner of the United Nations team, and we had a recognition of what we did in making our products more and more sustainable.
"In the case of F1, starting 2024 we will supply with certificated raw materials. FSC certified means that all the cycle starting from the beginning until the recycling is all under control of the sustainable bodies in order to guarantee that the production, the use and recycling is made in a sustainable way.
"All our factories in Europe, they already are like this. In 2025 all group's factories will have energy supply from renewable energy, which is another key point.
"So I think that is a continuous evolution, and being in F1, the most stressful use of tyres, we profit of these experiences to continue to improve together with them. So I think that is a commitment that will continue. And we have already achieved many important points."
He adds: "With F1, we have an opportunity to challenge in extreme conditions. Also for our partners, providing us raw materials, we have joint development agreements, that are more and more challenging in order to continue to be the number one.
"So being a leader as we are in the most advanced area of the automotive industry, we have to continue to be a leader. And F1 is helping us being a leader. So it's a challenge where we have every weekend, or every two weekends, something that proves the quality of Pirelli."
Ultimately Pirelli has to work with the teams and drivers in order to give them what they want. It's not always a straightforward task.
"We have to always be in touch with the team leaders obviously, and with the drivers," says Tronchetti Provera. "Because their judgement is what really is making us motivated to do something different, or something better. And when they stay silent, it's a good sign!
"And lately, I have to say that there are few comments. But when there is a comment, we never argue about the comments, we try to understand what we can do better. It's a continuous challenge, the performance has to be better and better."
Pirelli always has to deal with changing regulations and the evolution of the cars, with downforce levels and hence the load on the tyres rising year-on-year.
For 2026 there will be another new package, with a revised PU and different chassis regulations – and inevitably, an impact on the tyres.
"For sure, we will have new challenges," says Tronchetti Provera. "We faced challenges going from 13 inches to 18 inches [in 2022]. So we were able to cope with all these challenges.
"And looking forward, we are always in touch with F1 and the FIA. And we work together to ensure that any innovation is going at the same speed of the innovation of the cars.
"This is our mission. And this is what we do every day with the car manufacturers, we work together with them. The only way to run properly is having good tyres, because without good tyres, cars cannot move!"
