Mercedes to run 2014 car for Pirelli at Silverstone

Mercedes will run a 2014 car during the in-season test at Silverstone for Pirelli to test 2017 tyre compounds.

Pascal Wehrlein will drive the two-year-old car on Tuesday and Wednesday after the British Grand Prix, with Pirelli carrying out tests regarding 2017 compounds on current size tyres. Wehrlein is free having driven for his current team Manor on the opening day of testing in Barcelona in May.

"It's interesting for Pirelli, for the team and even for me to get experience with the tyres for next year," Wehrlein said. "So I'm really happy to do that. It's good."

Mercedes will still be running its 2016 car during the test but is unable to use a race driver after Nico Rosberg and Wehrlein drove on the two days of testing in Spain. As a result, Lewis Hamilton will not take part in in-season testing

Pirelli confirmed to F1i that Mercedes is the only team running an extra car during the test, and the car will not be modified.

The tyre manufacturer plans to run the wider 2017 tyres for the first time in August.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.