Posted on 30th November 2016
Pirelli complete final day of their 2017 tyre testing programme
The final day of Pirelli’s 2017 tyre testing programme took place in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday with Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes present.
It was the Italian tyre company’s 24th day of 2017 tyre testing this year and saw 96 different prototypes tested over 331 laps between the three teams. The cars were based on modified versions of the teams’ 2015 chassis and were tweaked to suit the wider tyres and beefed up to simulate the increased aerodynamic loads expected in 2017.
Lewis Hamilton drove the wider rubber for the first time in the Mercedes on Tuesday morning, but after feeling unwell midway through the day he handed the car over to Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein. Kimi Raikkonen tested for Ferrari while Red Bull fielded race drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
In a statement to the media yesterday, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said his company’s focus now shifts towards finalising the tyre compounds for the 2017 season. Hembrey said the following:-
“For the final test of the year, we had five F1 race drivers sample our 2017 prototypes as we completed the development programme with three cars at the same time. Now the hard work begins as we collate and analyse the results of our 24 days and approximately 12,000 kilometres of testing in order to define the tyres with which we will go racing next year.
“These will then be run on the actual 2017 cars for the first time during the official group tests next February. Our latest test in Abu Dhabi went according to plan and we were able to collect the data we needed thanks to the three mule cars from Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari; without whom it would have been impossible to carry out this intense development programme.â€
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
