03/08/2023
NEWS STORY
Pirelli has concluded a two-day test as Spa with McLaren and Aston Martin, most of which unsurprisingly took place in the wet.
On Tuesday, which was entirely wet, Lance Stroll and Oscar Piastri took to the track with Aston Martin and McLaren respectively, both testing different types of intermediate and extreme wet tyre with a view to 2024.
In total, Stroll covered 70 laps today with a best time of 1:57.697, while Piastri completed 47 laps with a best time of 2:00.682.
Testing resumed on Wednesday with Lando Norris continuing for McLaren while Stoffel Vandoorne took over the Aston Martin, the Belgian making his return to Formula 1 after an absence of nearly three years
Rain continued to be a constant feature, falling consistently in the morning and sporadically in the afternoon, meaning that the track surface remained wet throughout.
As a result, Pirelli's engineers concentrated exclusively on comparing different intermediate and full wet tyres with a view to the coming season.
A total of 93 laps were completed throughout the day: 53 laps by Vandoorne, who posted a best time of 1:57.631, and 40 laps by Norris, whose best was a 2:00.628.
"As was the case over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, there was no respite from the rain during these two days of testing," said Mario Isola. "Consequently, we had to limit ourselves to development work on the intermediate and extreme wet tyres, on asphalt that changed a lot according to the amount of surface water.
"Despite the difficulties, we managed to cover almost 1,500 kilometres. It was a very useful session, which allowed us to collect important data as we plan our testing programme between now and the end of the year."
"It was great to be back in an F1 car," said Vandoorne. "It's been a while and it was also my first time driving in green with Aston Martin. To do it at Spa was also very special for obvious reasons despite the wet weather.
"We ran on wet tyres in the morning and then as conditions improved into the afternoon we ran through the programme on the Intermediate tyres. The car felt good even in these wet conditions and I enjoyed every lap."
Check out our gallery from Spa, here.