F1 | Mario Isola, Pirelli: “We are satisfied with the results of these four days”

The first four days of pre-season testing ended today F1 on the Catalan circuit of Montmelo. On the track, in these four days, 3185 laps were completed, for a total of 14.826km.

From Monday to Wednesday the riders were able to test the new tires Pirelli wider from dry for the first time on the 2017 single-seaters, which today also tested them for the first time covers da wet, full wet and intermediate.

Mario Isola, Pirelli Racing Manager: “We are satisfied with the results of these four days. From what we have been able to analyze so far, the new product is in line with our expectations. For 2017, the sport asked us to develop tires that degrade less and allow riders to push as much as possible. And that's what we saw in these four days of testing and what we will continue to see in the second session. In this first test session, a strong reduction in lap times emerged. The target set included an improvement in lap times of 5 seconds compared to Barcelona 2015. Yesterday Valtteri Bottas set the best time of 1.19.705, on Ultrasoft tyres. If you consider that the 2015 pole position here in Barcelona was 1.24.681, I'd say we're there. Today we also saw the new wet tires on 2017 single-seaters on the track for the first time. The combination of new dimensions and new designs means that the drainage capacity of the new Cinturato Full wets has gone from 65 to 85 liters of water per second per wheel, at 300 km/h, and that of the new Cinturato Intermediates has increased from 25 to 30 litres. Before the start of the next session, scheduled for March 7-10, our engineers still have a lot of data to analyze.”