By: Fondmetal is a historic name in Formula 1.
The Bergamo-based wheel and rim manufacturing specialist was first the owner of its own team and then closely linked to Minardi between the 1990s and early 2000s, thanks to the passion of its founder, Gabriele Rumi.
In 2026, his heirs Stefano and Alessandra Rumi, driven by the same passion, brought Fondmetal back to the top flight through an exclusive partnership with Aston Martin F1 to supply wheel rims.
Formula1.it had the honour and pleasure of attending the “Fondmetal meets Formula 1” event, held at the company’s Palosco headquarters, where renowned journalist Paolo Ciccarone and Matteo Bobbi discussed this technological partnership with Fondmetal specialist James Smith and Aston Martin F1 Engineering Director Luca Furbatto.
An extreme technological challenge
The British team’s technical expert highlighted the technological challenge posed by this new regulatory era in designing the car’s wheel rim, explaining:
“From 2022 to 2025, the wheels were identical for everyone under the regulations, in order to curb the escalation in thermal exploitation that had characterised the previous years, when teams manufactured their own rims.
From 2026, by contrast, the supply and development of this component in collaboration with the supplier has been liberalised. Wheels are now among the open-source components: this means that, once developed, they must be published on the FIA website, relinquishing their intellectual property and making it available to all teams.”
It is in precisely this context that the collaboration between Fondmetal and Aston Martin began, with the two parties working on defining the wheels for the current single-seater as early as 2025.
It was an intensive process, involving the search for the best compromise among no fewer than 22 different initial designs for both the front and rear rims.
Furbatto’s description of the current product is impressive and can be summed up in these words:
“The rim is made from forged magnesium. The raw blank weighs around 40kg but, after machining, the finished part weighs around 6kg. However, the design is not dictated solely by weight parameters, but also by the aerodynamic interaction sought with the rest of the single-seater and by the role the component plays in managing heat transfer to optimise tyre usage.”
A difficult balance between weight, aerodynamics and manufacturing requirements
Also of interest was the contribution from James Smith, a highly experienced engineer in the forged motorsport wheel sector who joined Fondmetal specifically to meet the challenge presented by this renewed Formula 1 commitment.
The British engineer explained the role played by the Bergamo-based company during the design phase in these words:
“We had intensive interaction with Aston Martin from the development phase onwards, receiving load specifications as well as design feedback related to aerodynamic aspects. The difficulty lies in balancing these requirements with the ease of manufacturing the rim through machining. We are pleased with the result, which has led to a front wheel with seven hollow spokes and a disc-type rear wheel. Furthermore, our rim is probably the lightest of all and features a bowl thickness of just 2.5mm.”
The FIA regulations set the minimum rim thickness at 2.5mm, so Fondmetal deserves credit for taking its design to the regulatory limit.
In light of these extreme characteristics, Furbatto added further interesting information regarding the delicate management of a component whose importance often remains overlooked, stating:
“The maximum fatigue life of the rim has been set by us at Aston Martin at 2,000km, and we carry out inspections approximately every 500km. In reality, its effective lifespan is much shorter because it is easy to damage the rim during tyre fitting operations or at a pit stop.”
Passion and technology
Fondmetal CEO Stefano Rumi, heir to the historic founder, explained the reasons behind the return to Formula 1, starting with the passion that has always distinguished the Brescia family:
“We have always wanted to return to the top flight, and the current regulations represented the right opportunity. We recruited people with decades of experience in the world of racing wheels and sounded out several partners, but we wanted to work with only one team in order to dedicate all our resources to it. In the end, we chose Aston Martin, which also has sentimental value because Fernando Alonso took his first steps in Formula 1 at Minardi, when my father was still team principal.”
All the news, photos, weather, session times and times from the Azerbaijan GP 2026
