Report: Lauda makes Hamilton do Pirelli testing

Oct.1 - Niki Lauda has insisted that Mercedes' two race drivers take part in Pirelli's 2017 tyre testing.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport claims that, with Pascal Wehrlein having done the running in Mercedes test mule so far, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg did not want to do any of the running as Pirelli tests its wide slicks for next year.

But the report said both Hamilton and Rosberg will be at the Barcelona test later this month.

"A driver can always learn something, even if it might be limited in a tyre test. Honestly, Niki put more pressure on than me," Mercedes team boss Wolff said.

F1 legend and team chairman Lauda confirmed: "It is important that the regular drivers test.

"They are the fastest and can do a better job than a replacement driver to help Pirelli with this tyre development."

Red Bull's race drivers will also test the 2017 slicks in October, after Sebastien Buemi did the running so far.

"Verstappen and Ricciardo will do the test in Abu Dhabi," team official Dr Helmut Marko confirmed.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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