Pirelli prepares for 2024 with F1 tyre test following season-closing Abu Dhabi grand prix

The competition between the Formula 1 drivers and constructors has been all but over for most of the second half of the 2023 season as Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Red Bull dominated from the start. Preparations for 2024 will commence in earnest moments after the chequered flag signifies the end of the Abu Dhabi grand prix, as the teams proceed immediately to testing at Yas Marina. Exclusive tyre supplier Pirelli will supply a predetermined allocation of compounds to teams, which will run two cars, for testing on the Tuesday following the weekend’s grand prix action. The five compounds will remain the same as in 2023, though the hardest C0 compound will be dropped altogether from Pirelli’s F1 tyre line-up.

Mario Isola, Pirelli’s head of motorsport, remarked that while teams would usually use one of their two cars to test tyres, the lack of change in compounds will mean it is more of an opportunity to gather management data. He said: “The teams will have a predetermined tyre allocation for the test. The car doing the tyre work will have 10 sets available at the test, consisting of one C1, one C2, two C5, and three sets each of C4 and C3. Meanwhile, the car for young drivers will have two sets each of C3 and C5 available as well as four sets of C4.”

Looking at the grand prix itself, Pirelli will supply the C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow medium and C5 as P Zero Red soft. Nearly all the drivers started last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the medium tyres. The top three finishers – in order, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez – all stopped just once to put on the hard tyre, between laps 16 and 21.

Isola added: “We go from the lights of Las Vegas to the Abu Dhabi sunset in the space of just a few days, after a journey of just over 13,000 kilometres, for a race that is now well-established as the season-closer. Yas Marina will host the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for the 15th time this weekend, and 11 of those have marked the final race of the season.

“The track was modified in 2021 to make it faster and more flowing, which also created extra overtaking opportunities, as we saw over the last two races there. Yas Marina is on the lower end of the scale when it comes to tyre demands, despite the vertical loads on the front axle in particular. As a result, we’ve selecting the softest three compounds, with C3 as the hard, C4 as the medium, and C5 as the soft. This is the same choice as last year, and also an identical selection to that seen at Las Vegas last weekend: confirmation of the versatility of the current compounds.”