Pirelli Warning Formula One It Could Leave Sport If There Is No Test Deal

Sole supplier Pirelli has warned that "it could walk away from Formula One after the current season if the sport fails to ratify tyre testing plans by close of play on Monday," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. Pirelli Motorsport Dir Paul Hembery said that there would "not be enough time to prepare new, wider tyres" planned for '17 if the FIA's Formula One commission "stalled on approving rule changes." Pirelli won a tender for the '17-19 contract in October but that has "yet to be signed off" with the FIA due to the testing issues. Hembery said, "When I land (in Europe after the Chinese Grand Prix), if I don't have an email confirming it's approved, or something else positive, then you will be calling me for a different story. This is it. We cannot do our job without this. We cannot deliver." Hembery and the FIA were "not immediately available for comment" (REUTERS, 4/18).