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Adapted from GMM
Rumours that Pirelli will leave formula one at the end of the season are growing by the day.
Heavily criticised for its 2013 tires, and now embroiled in 'testgate', the Italian supplier is also unhappy with F1's tight testing limits and the obstacles to tire specification tweaks being erected by the teams.
Facing the wrath of the FIA's new international tribunal for accepting Pirelli's invitation of a private test at Barcelona recently, Mercedes' team boss Ross Brawn on Friday sounded uncertain Pirelli will still be in F1 in 2014.
"Discussions about testing for next year will certainly be beneficial for whoever the tire supplier is in the future," he said.
Italy's La Repubblica said Paul Hembery repeated Pirelli's recent quit threat on Friday, "if we are unable to do some tests with the new tires before the start of the season".
"We cannot continue to work in the dark," he added. "By September first we need to provide the specifications for next year, but we don't even know what the cars are going to be like.
"We believe that the (2014) tire should be wider, but we don't know by how much.
"This year, because of the lack of tests ... we ended up with these cases of delamination, and then because we couldn't go onto a track we had to remedy it in the laboratory."
And, still, the teams refuse to agree to the new tires debuting at Silverstone late this month.
"We have heard that Lotus will not accept any changes," Hembery is quoted by Finland's MTV3.
"If that's right, we will use the same tires for the rest of the season. There may be some more four-stop races, but what can we do?"
Rumours that Pirelli will leave formula one at the end of the season are growing by the day.
Heavily criticised for its 2013 tires, and now embroiled in 'testgate', the Italian supplier is also unhappy with F1's tight testing limits and the obstacles to tire specification tweaks being erected by the teams.
Facing the wrath of the FIA's new international tribunal for accepting Pirelli's invitation of a private test at Barcelona recently, Mercedes' team boss Ross Brawn on Friday sounded uncertain Pirelli will still be in F1 in 2014.
"Discussions about testing for next year will certainly be beneficial for whoever the tire supplier is in the future," he said.
Italy's La Repubblica said Paul Hembery repeated Pirelli's recent quit threat on Friday, "if we are unable to do some tests with the new tires before the start of the season".
"We cannot continue to work in the dark," he added. "By September first we need to provide the specifications for next year, but we don't even know what the cars are going to be like.
"We believe that the (2014) tire should be wider, but we don't know by how much.
"This year, because of the lack of tests ... we ended up with these cases of delamination, and then because we couldn't go onto a track we had to remedy it in the laboratory."
And, still, the teams refuse to agree to the new tires debuting at Silverstone late this month.
"We have heard that Lotus will not accept any changes," Hembery is quoted by Finland's MTV3.
"If that's right, we will use the same tires for the rest of the season. There may be some more four-stop races, but what can we do?"