Pirelli has declared itself to be well on target with its preparations to supply Formula 1 tires next year after completing the first test of its new rubber at Mugello this week.
The Italian tire maker has made use of a Toyota TF109 to help evaluate its new tires, and signed up Nick Heidfeld as its official tester during its preparation period. The aim of the first two-day test was to help Pirelli evaluate front and rear tire profiles, plus their construction, ahead of further runs later this month.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director, said: "This was the first step of our return to Formula 1 and we are very satisfied with how the tires performed and the information we were able to collect. We concentrated on finalizing the profile and the construction of the front and rear tires, which is a process that we will continue over the next few tests that we carry out.
"Mugello has quite an abrasive surface, with long and medium/high-speed corners as well as hairpins and quick changes of direction so it is quite a good proving ground. We are on target and we come away from this test with lots of data to analyze, which is exactly the situation we hoped to be in."