Variable track conditions for the Pirellis in the Barcelona tests

The tests in Barcelona ended yesterday, after four days of testing which saw all 12 teams of the top championship take to the track with Pirelli PZero tyres.

During the tests held at the Circuit of Catalunya, a total of 18.000 km were covered which allowed the Scuderie to collect very significant information on the behavior of the new Italian tires in variable track conditions.

The Barcelona circuit is often used for Formula One testing due to the mild climate the Catalan region enjoys all year round. However, on this occasion the climate was less lenient with temperatures significantly lower than the seasonal average, to which was added the rain on Friday and Saturday nights, resulting in damp and poorly rubberized asphalt conditions in the subsequent morning tests. Even if the conditions in which the tests took place during the four days in Barcelona were not representative of the racing scenarios that the Teams will have to face during the season, the meteorological variability certainly gave the Scuderie the opportunity to draw on the various types of tires from the entire Pirelli range. In fact, the single-seaters ran both with the four dry compounds - supersoft, soft, medium, hard - and with the intermediate tires which, in the case of three teams, recorded records of over 40 laps on the track. The Milanese manufacturer also brought the latest evolutions of its super-soft and soft compound tires to the Barcelona tests, as established in the development program in view of the preparations for the first Grand Prix of the season. For this last round of testing, each team had a maximum of 30 sets available, divided into the compounds selected to run the tests. With a total of 360 tires available, the various teams had the opportunity to acquire a large amount of information, fundamental for defining their future race strategies.

“The eleven days of official testing held from the beginning of the year to today – explains Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director – were fundamental in giving the Teams the opportunity to become familiar with the characteristics of the new tyres. On the other hand, these tests were also a very important experience for us who were able to collect a very important amount of information on the behavior of the new compounds on the track. In Barcelona, ​​many teams preferred to run longer so as to test the tires in situations similar to the distances covered in the race, so as to be able to already get an idea about future strategies. This time too we had different weather conditions compared to expectations, if we consider that we started with temperatures of six degrees in the morning when, instead, almost all the races we will face this year will be held in environmental conditions of around 15 degrees at the start . For this reason, the tires recorded significantly different performances compared to the behavior we had when we tested on this same circuit, but in much milder track conditions. In any case, we are all convinced that the new tires will be a determining factor in the outcome of the race, in particular because they will increase the overtaking situations which, I think, we all want to see. A final consideration on the Barcelona circuit which, due to its shape, puts a lot of pressure on the tires and in particular on the left front. Despite this fact, the Pirelli PZeros performed excellently and I am particularly satisfied with the integrity of the structure.”

The rain that fell on Friday and Saturday nights put the teams in ideal conditions to also test the intermediate tyres. For the first time since the start of official testing, the intermediates were able to cover significant distances on the track, garnering excellent impressions due to their notable resistance, as well as their marked adaptability to track conditions. Racing on an asphalt that gradually became drier from wet, the teams were also able to experiment with those "limit" situations, where lap times improve by switching from intermediate tires to slicks. Reigning champion Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) set the best times in the first two days, then leaving the lead to Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) in Sunday testing. The tests ended with Felipe Massa (Ferrari) the fastest on the track on Monday but also in the four days, where on Sunday he set the best time of 1'22''625. On Friday, during the first day of testing, the 12 teams completed a total of 851 laps, equal to 3.961,40 km. The following two days saw the single-seaters complete over a thousand laps: 1.121 laps for a total of 5.218,25 km on Saturday; 1.106 laps for a total of 5.148,43 km, on Sunday. On Monday, the last day of testing, 923 laps were completed on the track, equivalent to 4.296,56 km. In total, during the four days of testing in Barcelona, ​​the new single-seaters equipped with Pirelli PZero tires covered a total of 4.001 laps on the track, covering 18.624,65 km, in environmental conditions varying between six and nineteen degrees. To the kilometers traveled in the Barcelona tests must be added the other 25.437 km totaled in the previous pre-season group tests, respectively 10.865 km in the Valencia tests and 14.572 km in the Jerez tests. Added to this figure are the over 18.000 km totaled by the Toyota TF109 with Pirelli tyres, during various private tests that the Milanese company has organized since August 2010. Finally, not to forget the 11.000 km covered during the two days test which saw the Scuderie take to the track for the first time with Pirelli tires already last year, after the last Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi. To date, the overall distance achieved by Pirelli in tests is close to the threshold of 75.000 km, an impressive number equal to approximately 250 Grands Prix.