Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli warned teams this week that they will quit the sport at the end of the season if a new contract from 2014 is not agreed soon.

Motorsport director Paul Hembery did not hide his impatience when he told reporters that time was running out for the Italian company to design and test tyres suitable for radically different 2014 regulations.

“Apparently on Sept. 1 we are meant to tell them (the teams) everything that they need to know for the tyres for next season.

“We are now mid-May so you can imagine how ludicrous that is when we haven’t even got contracts in place,” he said.

“So, maybe we won’t be here anyway.”

Asked how much of a maybe that was, and how seriously Pirelli were considering walking away, the Briton added: “At a certain point somebody has got to make a decision.

“Things are getting serious because the changes next year are so substantial that the sport has to make a rapid decision.”

Formula One is switching to a new 1.6 litre V6 turbo-charged engine with energy recovery systems next season and the tyres will also have to change to cope with the new unit’s characteristics.

Hembery said the indications were that the power delivery and top speed would be very different, the aerodynamic loads would change and even the size of the tyres was to be decided.

Wider tyres could be necessary to create grip, due to reduced aero downforce, and there was the risk of having excessive wheelspin.

Hembery would give no deadlines for an agreement with the teams, which would be further delayed if the governing FIA were to decide to put the contract out for tender, but Pirelli had set an internal one.

“It’s not a case of maybe 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.”