Red Bull: Pirelli should share Bahrain test costs

Red Bull Racing's Christian Horner believes that if Pirelli wants team to test at Bahrain ahead of the 2017 season, then the company should partly share the subsequent  costs.

With new tyre regulations and faster cars being introduced in 2017, the Italian tyre manufacturer wants Formula 1 teams to test at a warm weather venue, in addition to Barcelona, to ensure there are no major concerns with its compounds ahead of the start of the season.

But teams are divided over the request, as it obviously implies an unexpected cost which the smaller outfits may not have the means to handle.

"We are going testing - we're just not sure where yet!" Horner said after the Japanese GP.

"The scenario is very simple really: if Pirelli want us to go and test in Bahrain, because after all the testing we've done with the cars that we've built and we're running at the moment, then if they want the teams to go and test for their benefit in a hot climate then they should contribute to the burden of cost.

"That ranges from different teams, from £300,000 to three quarters of a million pounds depending on your logistics, and it seems unfair to burden the teams with that when Barcelona in March is a pretty decent venue to go testing at."

Mercedes remains in favour of adding a few days of testing in the Bahrain desert  and is supporting Pirelli's evaluation request. But the German manufacturer outfit is also in a position to add contingencies to its budget which many other teams cannot afford.

Williams Pat Symonds, who is opposed to the Bahrain test, believes the onus is on Pirelli to provide safe tyres at the outset, and a specific warm-weather test should not be required.

"I think it’s very very clear in the requirements that Pirelli have signed up to, and indeed that Pirelli have asked for, that we’re not running cars to test the safety of tyres," said Symonds.

"That has to be done off the car, that has to be done before they ever see a track, so I don’t think that that’s an acceptable reason to go testing in the Middle East or elsewhere."

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