Pirelli has been granted extra wet weather test days in addition to the allocation included in F1's in-season test schedule.
The Italian manufacturer made the request to F1's Strategy Group which has responded favourably, although Pirelli must still find a team to supply a 2015-spec car.
"That was a request coming from us," Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola told Motorsport.com.
"Because we believe that we can have a few additional sessions for wets and intermediates, where we can test some ideas on previous cars and older sizes.
"Of course we have some baselines, so we can compare the new ideas to the baselines, and have some indication for the development of the current sizes."
Isola recognized the massive differences which exist between the new-spec cars and the older 2015 machines, but insists that valuable data can still be collected by using last's year's equipment.
"It is different, we have different cars, we have different downforce, we have different sizes, but in some specific areas we can test some new solutions, and get some important feedback to address the development of the 2018 tyres," Isola said.
“The idea is to test something on the previous cars to give us a direction, and then to reduce the number of options on the current cars.
"As we are limited with the number of days with the current cars, we can make some preparation work with the previous cars in order then to go and test a reduced number of prototypes on the current cars."
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