Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery doesn't believe a true pecking order will emerge until the opening race of the season or even later, as most teams will sandbag to some extent during pre-season testing.
With major regulation changes likely to result in a mixed up grid, many are eager for testing to begin to see where each team stands, and although it's difficult to make an accurate prediction under normal circumstances, it will be almost impossible to do so this year until the actual racing starts according to Hembery.
"We really won't know in Barcelona testing where the teams are as that's a period where they won't want to show their hand," Hembery said at the Autosport International Show.
"There will be a lot of people trying to hide their true performance level or maybe wondering what they need to do because they can't even get close to some of the teams who are maybe sandbagging."
Nonetheless, Hembery is looking forward to testing to confirm whether Pirelli have got their calculations right for the new 2017 tyres, which has proven difficult due to the slower than expected mule cars which have failed to match the downforce levels expected this year.
"The problem we have got is that we have been testing with cars that are five seconds slower than what we're actually going to see in Barcelona," he added.
"From a compounding aspect, it is a bit of a challenge for us because it's a very small window we're working with.
"If the numbers aren't what we have been told they are going to be, then we might have been a bit too conservative."
