Tomorrow Pirelli begin their first foray into Formula 1 for 19 years, for the first tyre test with the 2011 Formula 1 teams. The Italian company has brought 384 tyres and 30 people to Abu Dhabi for its debut, following eight private tests and 7000 kilometres on circuits across Europe, as their three-year tyre supply deal is set to be given the green light.
2011 F1 hopefuls Nick Heidfeld, Romain Grosjean and Pedro de la Rosa have already been at the wheel in all sorts of weather conditions at Monza, Barcelona, Valencia, Jerez and Le Castellet, testing the four slick tyres and one rain tyre that will be supplied throughout next year.
“We come to these tests with plenty of confidence and satisfaction with our work carried out so far. The tests in Europe have given us all the data we needed at this current phase of development. From tomorrow, the drivers and engineers from every team will give us their opinions and feedback, which are of vital importance for the second phase of testing: a challenge that we are already well-prepared for.”
Paul Hembery – Motorsport Director
Both the medium compound slick and the soft compound slick will be used, distinguishable by a coloured stripe on the sidewall. Each team will run just one car and will have eight sets of tyres available, four for day one and four for day two. After Abu Dhabi, Pirelli will move on to Bahrain in early December for more private testing, in preparation for the first official tests with all the teams next year, which get underway in January.
The tyres which will be used are not necessarily the same as the 50,000 tyres which will be supplied to the Formula One World Championship throughout next year.
Newly-crowned world champion Sebastian Vettel will drive on both days for Red Bull, with Oliver Turvey and Gary Paffett sticking around for McLaren after participating earlier this week in the young driver test. Felipe Massa will drive for Ferrari tomorrow with Fernando Alonso taking the reigns of the F10 on Saturday.
Nico Rosberg will drive the Mercedes MGP W01 tomorrow with Michael Schumacher driving on Saturday. Robert Kubica will drive for Renault over both of the days, with Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado doing the same, for Williams and HRT respectively.
Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi will drive for Toro Rosso, with Kamui Kobayashi driving on Friday and half of Saturday for Sauber – their second driver for next year Sergio Perez will only be given Saturday afternoon on the new rubber. Adrian Sutil, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Paul di Resta will split their duties for Force India, with Lotus and Virgin’s drivers yet to be announced.
Photo (C) Pirelli
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