Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera has said that he thinks is would be wrong for teams not to provide race drivers for the testing of 2017 tyres.
So far Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel have tested for Ferrari alongside Esteban Gutierrez and tester Jean Eric Vergne, while Sebastien Buemi, and Pascal Wehrlein have been in action for Red Bull and Mercedes respectively.
However, Tronchetti Provera hopes that Mercedes will opt to use their own race drivers for 2017 tyre testing, despite previously saying they don't plan to.
"Ferrari gave the best drivers and I think and hope all the rest will give them," he told Autosport. "The priority is to have the best pilot."
"The speed is changing, so the best pilots, they have to test it. They have the sensibility to understand the change [in the tyres]," he added. "It's up to them, it's not yet in the agenda. I hope to see on the agenda, also their names."
Tronchetti Provera also spoke of the importance of testing the new compounds ahead of the new regulations set to be introduced next year.
"[The tests] are key," Tronchetti Provera said. "The kind of changes that are going on couldn't be reached without proper testing.!
"We are talking about performances with cars improving four or five seconds per lap. It would be nonsense not to test it," he continued. "Now we have the programme, we are doing it, and everything is fine."
Local time
Local time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
Replies (1)
Login to replydenis1304
Posts: 284
i think Hamilton didn't want to do tests and Mercedes didn't want to give Rosberg upper hand (my conspiracy theory :-)