Pirelli has yet to find out if it will get to test in warm weather conditions during pre-season ahead of the 2017 season.
The tyre manufacturer wants to test in a Middle East location such as Bahrain in order to ensure representative temperatures when running the 2017 tyres on new cars. Testing takes on increasing importance with new aerodynamic regulations aimed at lowering lap times being introduced, while Pirelli will also have bigger tyres next season.
Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery says he has made it clear why he feels warm weather testing would be beneficial but has yet to have confirmation on where the pre-season season tests will take place.
“It’s not really a fight, we’ll go where the sport wants us to go," Hembery told F1i when asked if he is losing the battle to test in warm conditions.
"Ultimately we feel with such a big change it would be beneficial for everybody - ourselves included - to go somewhere where the temperature is representative of what you’ll see in a race and also a circuit that’s representative in a race. So that would be our ideal situation.
"Actually going through the paddock [during the Italian Grand Prix weekend] we’ve had different comments as to where actually we might be going so it’s as much a mystery for us as it probably is for you!”
When the new power unit regulations were introduced in 2014, teams carried out an initial test at Jerez before two further tests in Bahrain. Teams prefer to hold the first pre-season test in Europe to be able to react quickly to any unforeseen problems with the new cars.
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Scene at the Italian Grand Prix
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