26/12/2010
NEWS STORY
Pirelli has completed its development campaign for this year with a five-day pre-Christmas test in Bahrain.
In total, the Pirelli team completed nearly 3000 kilometres over the five days, with Pedro de la Rosa at the wheel of the Toyota TF109 used by Pirelli for testing, followed by Romain Grosjean. The latest Bahrain test means that the Italian manufacturer has now completed more than 10,000 kilometres of private testing, on top of the distance covered by all the teams during the official two-day test at Abu Dhabi last month.
The Bahrain test focused on refining both the compound and construction of the Italian company's new tyres, based on the feedback given by all the teams after the official Abu Dhabi test. All four of the slick compounds that will be offered to the teams next year were tested: super-soft, soft, medium and hard, with extremely positive results.
Bahrain was chosen as a test venue because of the warm local conditions in the region of 25 degrees centigrade, which are difficult to find anywhere else at this time of year. But while Europe was sheltering from some heavy snowstorms, Bahrain was affected by a different kind of storm: a sandstorm that temporarily halted the running for two days.
Despite this unexpected setback, the Pirelli team was able to extend the length of time in which it stayed in Bahrain, ensuring that all the work scheduled was completed without compromise.
"I think this goes to show that, wherever you are in the world, uncertain weather can arrive in a variety of forms!" said Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery. "But Formula One is all about expecting the unexpected, and we were able to quickly react to these changing circumstances by extending our test. With the extra time we had, we were probably able to put in a little bit more work than we had originally planned, so everything worked out very well in the end. We ran through our entire dry tyre range, and to have reached the point where we are at now, just five months after the F1 tyres ran for the very first time at Mugello in August, is an incredible testimony to the commitment and capability shown by every member of our team. We ran two drivers in order to compare two different sets of feedback, and the fact that they were both saying the same positive things at the end of the test only underlines the progress that we have made. There's still some work to do, but we can head into 2011 with confidence."
Pirelli only has a short winter break before testing resumes again in the New Year. The Toyota will be in action once more at Bahrain from January 9-10, before moving onto a four-day test in Abu Dhabi from January 15-18.
During the Abu Dhabi test, Pirelli will run through its rain tyre range - both full wet and intermediate - using an artificially-dampened circuit while running at night, so that the water does not evaporate. The teams get their hands on Pirelli's tyres once more for the first official test in Valencia, starting on February 1.