Pirelli has said it will quit F1 unless tyre testing plans for 2017 are agreed today.

While the Italian tyre manufacturer announced last year that it had agreed a new contract from 2017 – 2019, this has yet to be ratified by the FIA.

With a raft of new rules coming next season, which will see faster cornering speeds, heavier loads and wider tyres, Pirelli has for some time been warning that this will require significant changes which will, in turn, need serious testing.

However, with the FIA seemingly stalling on ratifying the contract and agreeing to an acceptable test schedule, Pirelli admits it has had enough.

Following a letter to the FIA earlier this month warning that if the (2017) test programme was not agreed immediately it would withdraw its tender application, over the weekend it was agreed that as many as five teams will take part in a test programme that will cover 25 days of testing from July.

The agreement has now gone to the F1 Commission, which has been given today as the deadline.

"When I land, 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," Pirelli Motorsport boss Paul Hembery told Motosport.com.

"This is it," he warned. "We cannot do our job without this. We cannot deliver. We are being asked to make very significant changes, by changing the driveability of the tyres. Plus the thermal challenge that we have been given from the outset is now changing, so we now have to give tyres that will have less degradation and less wear. And they have to be tyres that the drivers will have a wider window of opportunity to push on. So it is a big change, and big performance improvements, so time is running out. We are in mid-April."

Asked what might be the scenario should the deadline not be met, Hembery replied: "As I said, you will be calling me for a different story. Someone else can have that challenge then. There are plenty of other things to do in life.

"There are big changes happening," he added. "We are being asked to make big changes, the drivers are asking for change and yet we are being left without the tools to do it. People can argue we don't need to test, but we do.

"The solution we have is a good one, but the time taken to get there has been too long."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Speedbump, 19/04/2016 14:52

"Regardless the supplier, I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to spend as much time as required to develop a safe and competitive tire, (tyre), because there should be no point more important than safety. The FIA and F1 are seeming more and more dysfunctional by the day."

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2. Posted by Ro, 18/04/2016 15:32

"I actually dont think Pirelli are totally to blame. No company would be in it if it were to receive negative publicity. Its simple, there should be more than one tyre supplier and the rules on tyre usage during a race should be changed. To force tyre changes is wrong, a tyre that lasts longer would be the answer."

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3. Posted by alejandro.torres.1991, 18/04/2016 14:02

"Fine. Let them go, nobody will miss them."

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4. Posted by ClarkwasGod, 18/04/2016 13:03

"The rats are deserting a sinking ship that is F1."

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5. Posted by GrahamG, 18/04/2016 12:21

"Great news, hopefully Pirelli will walk away and we'll get a decent tyre supplier"

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