Pirelli signs off on 2017-19 F1 contract
ByAutoSport
Published 28/05/2016 at 18:26 GMT
Pirelli has finally signed off on its Formula 1 contract from 2017-19, over seven months after the Italian manufacturer was confirmed as supplier.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone announced Pirelli as tyre supplier for the next three seasons in October but it has taken until now for the paperwork to be signed.
Pirelli has been confident of the deal going through and powered on with its plans for 2017, when bigger and wider tyres will be introduced.
When asked by Autosport about progress of the contract, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said: "Yes. There are so many bits of them. There's lots of bits of paper.
"For me it was done last year, it's just the legals and they always take a long time.
"It's actually the earliest we've had a renewal contract signed so you're all worried about it but for me it's fine.
"There's a lot of people involved and it's just complex from a legal point of view.
"Even though you're renewing and you have an existing document, things seem to change dramatically in three years and everyone wants different things."
Earlier on Saturday, Pirelli confirmed that Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull are set to be the first teams to run Pirelli's 2017-spec tyres.
Hembery said testing would start in September, rather than August, and hoped it would be completed by the end of November.
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