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.”
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.
