Pirelli completed its third test ahead of its official return to Formula 1, with a two-day testing session at the Jerez circuit.
Nick Heidfeld was again the man in charge of testing duties, in the German's last test with Pirelli before he returns to racing with Sauber at the Singapore Grand Prix. Heidfeld completed nearly 100 laps on the opening day and a similar distance on the second, as he worked on finalizing the development of tire construction. The German driver will be replaced by Romain Grosjean for the next test at Monza.
Pirelli's engineers also tried out a range of different compounds, as they prepare the four slick options that will be offered to teams next year.
"We'd like to thank Nick for his very valuable contribution to our tire development program and we wish him all the best for the future," said Pirelli's Motorsport Director Paul Hembery. "In order to avoid favoring any individual team, we have jointly decided to release Nick from his contract and now we have chosen Romain to test for us in Monza.
"He's packed a lot of experience into a short space of time, including all our GP3 tire development, so I'm sure he'll be able to give us some very useful feedback. The tests here at Jerez have gone extremely well and we completed all the work that we planned over the two days. Now we move onto Monza, where our task will be to finalize the construction before we focus further on compounds."
Former GP2 champion Giorgio Pantano was also in action at Jerez, driving the new GP2 car fitted with Pirelli rubber.