Pirelli warns it could quit over contract

With a large amount of design, production and testing time a necessity for the Italian manufacturer prior to the major car changes, Motorsport Director Paul Hembery explained to reporters in Monte-Carlo that the situation is has become 'ludicrous'.

"Apparently on 1 September we are meant to tell them [the teams] everything that they need to know for the tyres for next season," said Hembery, whose company returned to Formula 1 in 2011. We are now mid-May so you can imagine how ludicrous that is when we haven't even got contracts in place. So maybe we won't be here anyway..."

Hembery described the compound changes required for the new regulations as 'dramatic' and admits that the company will soon be reaching a tipping point.

"It's not a case of putting a harder compound onto this year's tyres," he said. "The changes are so dramatic that we probably need to do a thorough re-engineering of the tyre and that takes time. The longer this goes on, it makes our job impossible and there comes a point where you say 'Well, we don't have time to do the job any more."

Pirelli has come under fire from a number of teams and drivers over the life of its 2013 compounds, with safety-based changes set to be made for the Canadian Grand Prix.