McLaren and Force India pull out of Pirelli's tyre test in Bahrain

Two off the six teams, namely McLaren and Force India, who were scheduled to appear for a tyre test held in Bahrain, have pulled out due to the lack of time for preparation. The session was hastily scheduled on Monday night, as the FIA announced six teams, including Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, Toro Rosso and the two which cancelled, who had confirmed their attendance.

Both teams have since come out, and confirmed they will miss the Bahrain test session.

“We are not testing in Bahrain next week,” a McLaren spokesman said.

Force India, in an announcement to the media said, “Given the short notice of this test taking place and the timeframes involved, the team will not be attending the test,”

The Italian giant, Pirelli, has wanted to test its tyres with representative cars, before the start of 2014 pre-season, in an effort to conform with the new era of F1 regulations. They had communicated their desire of doing so, on more than one occasion. The FIA caved eventually, citing safety grounds.

With this, Pirelli is left with only four teams for their testing, notwithstanding any more last minute cancellations.