Williams' head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley has admitted that an earlier start to the season in 2016 will hit Formula 1 teams in the pocket.

With 21 races on the calendar, constructors will likely lose two weeks of time building and developing their cars ahead of the new season.

However, Smedley has also revealed that Williams would probably attend the opening winter test session with fewer spare parts as a result.

He is quoted by Autosport as saying: "It has an impact, there's no doubt about that, but we have rejigged all the plans now, we have sat down and looked at an operational plan to get us from this point to the first day of the first test.

"That plan was already done and underway and we've had to redo that. It's just going to be more costly for us. It won't make a difference to when everyone sees the new car or in what state the new car runs or how it runs in the first test or how it runs in Australia – those plans won't change.

"We will probably be a little bit shorter on parts in the first test then we would like to be but that is just something we have to live with. You can't magic parts out of the air. We will probably get to first few days with less than operational quantities. The change has big ramifications."

Williams are currently third in the 2015 constructors' championship.