Pirelli’s PZero F1 tyre on track today in Valencia 2011 testing opener

Formula One’s teams have got their hands on the latest specification Pirelli PZero tyre in Valencia today, where the 2011 cars have seen their first action. Arriving on 31 January ahead of testing from 1-3 February, Paul Hembery Pirelli’s motorsport director stated: “We arrive in Valencia with all our compounds defined and ready to offer the teams different tyre solutions, having enjoyed an intense and fruitful collaboration so far. This test will provide us with some useful feedback and a valuable taste of the season to come.”

The tight and twisty Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia is witnessing the first of four testing sessions ahead of the season-opener in Bahrain on 13 March. Pirelli’s PZero tyres, of which four are dry and two wet will be offered throughout the 2011 season. The Valencia test will close on 3 February, with the teams then heading for Jerez the following week.

The 12 teams had an opportunity to try out Pirelli’s soft and medium tyres for the first time last year in Abu Dhabi from 19-20 November, just a few days after the season-closing Grand Prix. On that occasion, the teams completed around 11,000km between them in two days, giving them a good initial taste of Pirelli’s new tyres. The wider range of new F1 compounds in Valencia has been the result of final private test sessions in the United Arab Emirates throughout mid-January. As well as the dry tyres, Pirelli will also put the intermediate and wet tyres at the disposal of the teams in case of rain: a frequent occurrence on the Spanish coast at this time of year.

During the three-day Valencia test, each of the 12 teams will receive a maximum allocation of 30 sets of tyres. The teams can choose how many sets of each compound they wish to test, depending on their individual development strategies. The same arrangements will be in place for the following two tests, which will also take place in Spain: Jerez (10-13 February) and Barcelona (18-20 February).

The entire Pirelli F1 support squad – comprising 50 people – is in Valencia for support, with each team allocated its own Pirelli engineer, tasked with passing on technical information and working together with the team to help set up the car. So far, Pirelli has covered more than 18,000km in 10 private tests, including two days at Valencia last October when the intermediate and wet tyres were tried out for the first time

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery commented: “We arrive in Valencia with all our compounds defined and ready to offer the teams different tyre solutions, having enjoyed an intense and fruitful collaboration so far. This test will provide us with some useful feedback and a valuable taste of the season to come. It goes without saying that we are eagerly awaiting the first Grand Prix.

“Valencia will be a very significant test, as it will allow us to experience a situation that is very similar to real race conditions, although the ambient conditions aren’t representative of the rest of the year, and also give us a good idea of how to work together in future. The objective of this test is to give all the teams the opportunity to become better acquainted with the tyres that we will supply to them this season, before they end their development programmes prior to the first Grand Prix of the year in Bahrain.”