A field of racers in Abu Dhabi has completed the first
official test of Pirelli’s tires as the company becomes the
exclusive Formula One tire supplier next year.
Fifteen drivers were on the Yas Marina track, running a
group total distance of some 10,500 kilometers over two
days.
Each car had four sets of tires at its disposal, two
medium-compound sets and two soft-compound sets.
“It was hard work, but a very positive and educational
experience for us,” reports Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s
motorsports director. “We know that this was only our first
test, but we think that we’ve passed it with full marks,” he
notes.
“The comments from the drivers are very encouraging,”
Hembery continues. “They especially enjoyed the performance
of our front tire, which is an area that we have worked on
considerably. This was one of our objectives, and I’m
delighted that we have hit our target. Throughout these two
days we’ve tried out the medium- and soft-compound tires,
and we’ve had good results from both of them, particularly
in terms of wear rate.”
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The tire maker’s testing program will now continue at the
start of December. The next private tests are scheduled to
take place in Bahrain, where engineers will once more try
out the various compounds in hot conditions. There will be
another private test session in Europe during January; the
teams then reconvene at the beginning of February.
“During the two days of testing here in Abu Dhabi we’ve
racked up nearly 11,000 kilometers with all the teams,” says
Hembery. “That’s more than we have accumulated in three
months of private testing. They have also been 11,000 very
interesting kilometers, given that we were testing for the
first time with the current cars, rather than the 2009-
specification Toyota that we have used up to now,” he points
out.
“Furthermore, the teams have begun to test different
solutions specifically for 2011, giving them further
development directions. We’ve now collected a huge amount of
data and opinions, which we will start to analyze,” says
Hembery, “as we prepare for the next tests in Bahrain at the
beginning of December. After then, we will have finalized
our product and we can look forward to the next official
test with all the teams at the start of February.”
For more information visit www.us.pirelli.com.
