Schumacher added that making effective use of the tyres would be critical to success this year following Pirelli's replacement of Bridgestone as F1's supplier.

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Besides selling control of AvtoVAZ to Renault-Nissan, RT has already sold a controlling stake in two tyre factories to Pirelli of Italy, which will try to turn them into exporters of winter tyres to Canada and the Nordic countries.

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Pirelli says that leading car makers have been so excited by the improvements in quality that they have rushed the new tyres into their test programmes.

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