Pirelli has completed its final private test before the Formula 1 field gets to try its tires, with Pedro de la Rosa racking up more than 500 miles of running at Paul Ricard on Monday and Tuesday this week. The French track's sprinkler system was used to create a wet track as Pirelli worked on its intermediate and extreme wet tires.
"We're very pleased with the outcome of this wet test session," said Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery. "The sprinkler facilities at Paul Ricard allowed us to carry out all the work that we intended in consistent conditions and maximize our time there to the best effect."
Pirelli will now head to Abu Dhabi for the first full-field test of its new tires. It will use its medium and soft compounds for the Yas Marina sessions on Nov. 19-20.
"With our European campaign over we now head to Abu Dhabi, which will be the first indicator of where we are really at," Hembery said. "It's still a big step into the unknown but we believe that we have a solid foundation of products now with which to make more progress after less than three months of running to date."