Formula 1 drivers recently benefitted from some extra running with this year’s offerings of Pirelli’s racing tires.
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“With so few testing opportunities available over the course of the year, this was a valuable chance for the teams to expand their knowledge of the characteristics of our tire range, as well as try out different upgrades before the European season begins,” reports motorsport director Paul Hembery.
Taking place at Mugello in Italy, the teams were allowed to use whichever tires from their testing allocation of 100 sets per car per year remained to them, trying out all the slick compounds, including some runs on the supersoft during the final day. The allocation of 100 tires also includes the young-driver test at the end of the year.
Heavy rain on the opening day also meant that the drivers got the chance to test the Cinturato Green intermediate and Cinturato Blue full wet, but the bad conditions limited the amount of overall running on day one. The weather was much better on Wednesday and Thursday, allowing teams to complete their test programs, which were aimed at evaluating aerodynamic and other upgrades, as well as increasing their understanding of the 2012 Pirelli tire range.
Many of the third drivers also got to sample the current Pirelli tires for the first time at Mugello – a circuit that tests every parameter of a tire’s performance, thanks to the wide variety of speeds and corners contained within the lap. The track has an abrasive surface with long medium- to high-speed corners as well as a tight hairpin bend and several quick changes of direction.
“This is traditionally a time when teams introduce new parts, and with the competition now being closer than it has ever been before, understanding how the tires interact with the latest car developments will be key to establishing an advantage,” according to Hembery.
“The opening day at Mugello was something of a wash-out (because of the heavy rain),” he notes, “but the teams were able to complete some longer runs over the last two days with our medium and hard tires in particular, enabling them to collect plenty of useful data. This will be extremely valuable when it comes to planning race strategy in future.”
For more information, visit www.pirelli.com.
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