Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery has warned Formula One bosses they must confirm Pirelli’s testing plans by the end of April if the tyre manufacturer is to have any chance at designing and manufacturing wider tyres requested for the 2017 season.
The sporting and technical regulations are yet to be confirmed by the FIA but Pirelli has been assured it will have a maximum of 12 days tyre testing to test the new specification tyres.
Whilst Pirelli knows it will definitely have some testing days they are not yet sure what spec car they will be allowed to use or which team/teams will be helping them with their testing programme.
Hembery is confident Pirelli will get the information they need shortly but to add extra pressure, he has made it clear to F1 bosses time is running out to get these tyres ready for 2017.
“In practice, we are at the limit already,” he told Motorsport.com.
“There are only six months of work left in order to study and implement the whole thing, and it’s not easy.
“The teams want a perfect tyre but week after week it is becoming less and less feasible. Our deadline is [the end of] April.
“If we can not work as we want, it becomes impossible to deliver what is required of us. We do not want to put our name at risk for the sake of not having the tests nor information necessary to do a good job.
“We have already seen that if then there are problems, then it is our fault.”
“I believe, and I hope, that this week all aspects are defined,” he said. “We have asked for the guarantee of 12 days of testing with a car equipped with a hybrid power unit, and some updates on what will be the guidelines for the next technical regulations
“We also want to do preliminary tests with a vehicle of 2013. The definition of these details is slowing a little bit the conclusion of the negotiations .”
