Red Bull F1 boss Horner suggests post-Bahrain GP test amid row

The F1 teams are currently at loggerheads over the venues for pre-season testing ahead of the 2017 campaign, with a split between Barcelona and Bahrain.

Pirelli is adamant it needs the warmer climes of Bahrain to address potential problems that are unlikely to materialise in cooler conditions.

Horner, though, has offered a compromise as he said: "For the first four races, Melbourne can be pretty chilly, China's certainly pretty cool, Bahrain's a night race and Russia can also be on the cooler side.

"So maybe a more sensible solution would be to stay in Bahrain after the race [on April 26] and rather than do the test in Barcelona mid-season, do it in Bahrain when everybody's kit and personnel is at that circuit."

Williams chief technical officer Pat Symonds, who claims his team is "bitterly opposed to going to the Middle East pre-season", believes Horner's suggestion is "quite sensible".

Symonds told Autosport: "I don't think Bahrain is the greatest circuit, but it's not a problem to do it [post race].

"It costs nothing, and we've got prescribed tyres for the first few races.

"Australia is medium, soft, supersoft - if they [Pirelli] want to take hard, medium, soft I have no problem with that, it's the same for everyone.

"What I do have a problem with is spending [an additional] £400,000 doing pre-season testing [in Bahrain], which is a significant part of our budget, but an insignificant part of Mercedes' or Ferrari's budget."

Horner claims if Pirelli is adamant about going testing pre-season then it should pay a significant contribution towards doing so.

"The scenario is very simple, really, in that if Pirelli want us to test in Bahrain, in a hot climate for their benefit, then they should contribute to the burden of costs," he added.

"Particularly after all the testing we're doing with the [mule] cars we've built and are running at the moment.

"The costs range from different teams is between £300-750,000 depending on your logistics, and it seems unfair to burden the teams with that when Barcelona in March is a pretty decent venue to go testing at."

Pirelli already feels it contributes heavily towards F1, spending around £70million per season, and sees no reason why it should foot this latest bill.

Horner said: "So that means 'Should Bernie [Ecclestone] pay for it?', and we all know what the answer to that will be - so that means we will all be in Barcelona."