Fernando Alonso believes the drivers that have had a chance to test Pirelli's 2017 tyres this season will be at an advantage next year.
Pirelli has conducted a series of tests with Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull between races this season in order to help develop its new wider tyres for 2017. The tests are 'blind' for teams and drivers, with Pirelli acquiring the data before sharing it among all 11 teams to help them develop their cars for next year.
So far Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Esteban Gutierrez, Pascal Wehrlein, Nico Rosberg and Red Bull test driver Sebastien Buemi have all tested the tyres, while Lewis Hamilton pulled out of this week's test due to a foot injury McLaren opted not to take part in the tests so that it could focus on next year's car, but Alonso rues not being able to try out the new tyres ahead of pre-season testing next year.
"I think it's always nice, in terms of preparing yourself, to know exactly what to expect from the tyre behaviour the following year by having some test with the tyres," he said. "In 2007 [when Alonso changed from Michelins at Renault to Bridgestones at McLaren], it was more or less a similar situation of an unknown tyre coming into play from one year to another, but we have also in the Pirelli era in 2011 the same conditions, switching from Bridgestone to Pirelli. At that time it was the same for everybody, but this time it's only a few drivers and few teams having that possibility [to test]. That's the thing that seems a little bit unfair this year."
Alonso has been critical of Pirelli's high-degradation tyres in recent years, but next year the Italian tyre manufacture has been given the freedom to produce faster, more resilient tyres.
Asked if he was confident Pirelli will deliver a better tyre in 2017, Alonso said: "I think they are in very early days in the tyre testing, so let's wait to see the final result. Unfortunately we are not able to test the tyres, only a few drivers will test the tyres, and it would be nice to all have the same opportunity after the last race or something like that, but I know that has some implications on the current [car] design and for the tyres as well.
"Let's hope for a good tyre. I know they are testing more than they did any other year, so before the quality of the tyre performance was not as good as it could be because of the lack of testing, but now they have a test programme in place, so I expect a fantastic tyre next year."