Wet Testing Gives Pirelli “Clearer Idea” for Further F1 tyre Development

The latest phase in Pirelli’s Formula One tyre pre-season test programme has taken driver Pedro de la Rosa back to his homeland and the Valencia circuit in order to engage in wet conditions testing. The days spent evaluating the F1 PZero tyres in eastern Spain were the first in which de la Rosa drove for Pirelli, and during a two-day period he covered just over 650 kilometres in the Toyota TF109 test vehicle.

Valencia was chosen as a test venue on the merits of its technical and compact nature, which Pirelli says allowed its engineers to assess every aspect of the tyre’s performance. Before getting underway, de la Rosa established a benchmark time using slick tyre, and then the track was sprayed with water, giving the track a light covering to check the performance of the new intermediate tyres and then a more dense covering to try out the full wet rubber. Although conditions remained warm and dry in eastern Spain, with ambient temperatures in the region of 24 degrees centigrade, Pirelli notes it is easier to test wet tyres when it is not actually raining as the water on the track dries more consistently. This enables accurate data to be recorded, an essential priority when testing.

“As we were running our intermediate and wet tyres for the very first time, effectively our programme was starting from scratch once more,” commented Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery. “We worked through our schedule exactly as planned, and we were able to get an initial impression of our performance in wet and drying conditions. This has enabled us to identify the areas in which we are strong and the areas that we need to develop further, which is always the aim in testing. It’s been great working with Pedro de la Rosa, whose experience has given us a well-informed perspective on the characteristics of our tyres. So far our schedule is going exactly to plan, and we look forward to continuing our work at what is a very exciting time for us during the next test sessions as well as back at base in Milan.”

“It’s a real pleasure for me to be working with Pirelli this year, and I’m delighted to have finally had the chance to try out these tyres,” added de la Rosa. “We completed all the work we wanted to do during this initial session, and now we have a clearer idea about future avenues for development.”

Pirelli also used the opportunity to test in Valencia to carry out development of its new GP2 rubber, with Giorgio Pantano driving the new Renault-powered single-seater. Pirelli’s next tyre test will be at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona at the end of October.