F1 testing moves to Catalunya

Pirelli has accumulated several thousand kilometres on Spain’s Jerez circuit in private and official Formula One testing, but the Italian tyre supplier will be hoping for better weather as it moves north to the Circuit de Catalunya. A fortnight ago, varied conditions made testing a challenge, as teams try to simulate the conditions they will face when the F1 season commences in Australia on 16 March. Pirelli has announced that the P Zero White medium compound will be available alongside the P Zero Yellow soft compound, and with the weather colder than expected in Jerez, the former has proved the most popular tyre for testing. Pirelli has also nominated the P Zero White for China and Malaysia, the second and third Grands Prix respectively.

In total, Pirelli will bring 367 sets of tyres to Barcelona for the four-day test from 21-24 February: 73 more sets than were available in Jerez. The teams are allowed to choose which compounds they want to use out of the 100 sets they are allocated per car for testing purposes each year, and – just as was the case in Jerez – the P Zero White has proved to be the most popular choice for Barcelona, with 110 sets selected.

The P Zero Yellow soft is the next most popular choice for the forthcoming test, with 82 sets making the trip to Barcelona. In addition, Pirelli will bring 69 sets of P Zero Silver hard, 36 sets each of Cinturato Green intermediate and Cinturato Blue wet, and 34 sets of P Zero Red supersoft – which would make its track debut in Barcelona, should the teams prove more adventurous than in Jerez, where it remained unused.
 
The 4.65-kilometre Circuit de Catalunya contains long straights and varying corners, making it a good place to assess a wide range of parameters over a distance. Pirelli tested there in the winter last year, though they were affected by cold weather, which had a significant impact on the behaviour of the tyres.
 
Pirelli’s motorsport director, Paul Hembery said: “Everyone will be hoping for warmer and more consistent conditions in Barcelona this week, which we didn’t get in Jerez. Nonetheless, the message from the first test was very positive, with drivers generally happy with the warm-up, performance and durability of our new tyres, which have been specifically designed to the 2012 regulations.

“Barcelona is a very different type of circuit to Jerez, which puts quite a lot of stress on tyres in general because of its high top speeds and the front-left in particular, due to the large number of right-hand corners. The emphasis for the teams will once more be on development, as they ramp up the learning curve with their 2012 cars and assess how the chassis interacts with the new tyres.“

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