Williams believes 2017 F1 tyre testing could offer an advantage
Williams believes there could be an advantage from carrying out testing for Pirelli that will focus on the new Formula 1 rubber for 2017
Williams believes there could be an advantage from carrying out testing for Pirelli that will focus on the new Formula 1 rubber for 2017.
Williams is one of the teams that has indicated an interest in supplying a 2015 car for modification to allow Pirelli to do conceptual work on current-sized tyres with a view to aiding development work for the new size and specification of tyre planned for 2017.
"Naturally they bring a load of tyres and they say 'which ones do you like?' and you say 'those ones' and that's where it moves on," said Williams technical director Pat Symonds.
Pirelli has tried 2017 ideas on GP2 car
"It's not exactly scientific, but the fact is you've said you like those ones and someone else might have gone' I like those [different] ones' so things tend to go in your direction."
Symonds said modifying the 2015 car will be a demanding project but will provide useful information as teams ramp up their preparations for the 2017 regulation change.
"It's quite an undertaking," he said. "It could pay off.
"It's not all wasted work in terms of the front end of the car.
"A lot of good layout that we're doing will ... I won't say that we're making parts that will go onto next year's car but we're just learning how to lay out that sort of stuff.
"The rear's actually quite easy to do and the aerodynamics, although we need to perhaps talk to [FIA race director] Charlie [Whiting] because he's been a bit prescriptive on how we do things, we were planning to do some stuff like that."
Symonds said Pirelli will pay for the testing but the finer detail has yet to be worked out.
"We know what Pirelli are paying per kilometre but we don't know all the peripheral bits that make such a difference."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments