Williams worried about not testing 2017 tires

Pirelli recently unveiled its testing schedule for its 2017 tires, which will be developed in line with the new technical regulations, which will offer single-seaters with increased performance.

After testing prototypes with Pascal Wehrlein during private testing at Silverstone on a Mercedes W05 from 2014, the sessions will follow with Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull throughout the season. A program which reveals concerns in the ranks of the teams absent from these sessions, in particular Williams.

If the Italian manufacturer of the F1 recalled that all data from these sessions will be shared with the entire field, and that the three teams in testing will ride "blind", Pat Symonds, technical director of Grove training, does not hide that the teams lined up could be at an advantage.

“Of all the changes for 2017, the tires will be the most crucial, specifies Symonds on the discipline’s website. All teams apart from the three testing will have no knowledge of what the 2017 tires will look like until testing in February. Only Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull are being tested. For the rest, we need to see.

Pirelli will spread the information as best they can, but it will never be the same as having a car on track. And we certainly don't have a strategic relationship with any other team. »

Symonds further reveals that Williams did not have the financial means to participate in these trials. “We don’t have the money to do it. We wanted to join these tests, but we worked out the costs and it showed us that we couldn't afford to do it. »