Pirelli admits it will be forced to quit Formula One at the end of the year if plans for a 2017 test programme are not ratified on Monday.
The F1 Commission is today set to vote on proposals from Pirelli to conduct 25 car days of testing this year for 2017's new wider rubber. Pirelli's new tyres will be part of the revamped cars being planned for next year which will aim to achieve a lap time improvement of five or six seconds.
Pirelli has previously complained about being hampered by a lack of in-season testing and sees an extensive programme for 2017 as crucial for delivering a successful tyre for the new regulations. If the 25-day test plan, which would be a programme involving five teams, does not get the necessary support from the Commission today Pirelli boss Paul Hembery says the manufacturer would have no choice but to walk away from the sport.
"When I land [after the deadline on Monday afternoon], 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," Hembery told Motosport.com. "This is it. 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."
Pirelli has come under criticism on numerous occasions since it became F1's sole-tyre supplier, such as after last year's Belgian Grand Prix following a series of blowouts. Former F1 tyre supplier Michelin has faced problems on its return to MotoGP this season and Hembery says manufacturers cannot be expected to make massive changes without the necessary time to test.
"You see other categories where people have come into a sport and had big problems and we are in this sport. There are big changes happening. 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."
Hembery had sounded less pessimistic about the outcome during his media session in Bahrain last weekend.
"It has all come together, so it will be finalised next week," he said. "There was a matrix of elements that all needed to be finalized before this could be sorted. But we have had great support from the FIA, the teams and FOM, so everybody is working towards a common goal, which is positive.
"We just have to carry on, we have been carrying on, there is no time to wait. You have to assume that it has passed the F1 Commission; the aero regs have passed, so we already have some good indications of what that will mean in terms of load. I am not sure if any other significant items will be changed by the time we go to the F1 Commission meeting, I will clearly see those. But talking with the teams, it is very clear that they all assume that from the aero point of view that we voted for it and that is what everyone is working on."