Breaking news
Formula 1
F1 teams and Pirelli locked in debate over 2017 tyre testing
Formula 1 teams are locked in a debate with Pirelli and the FIA about the logistics of next year’s in-season tyre testing.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Nov 22, 2016, 11:41 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The rules allow for 25 car days of testing to be spread through the season and between the teams.
However, the provisional schedule suggested by the tyre company and discussed in Brazil was not acceptable to the teams, who pointed out the logistical issues associated with cars and personnel being in transit between flyaway races, and the fact that spare parts and extra power units will be in short supply early in the year.
Pirelli is keen to run on as many tracks as possible, including those outside Europe in the last part of the season. The FIA will have to agree to allow testing outside Europe, while FOM will also have to delay its freight service to the next race to wait for the team that is doing the testing.
Austin and Sepang have been mentioned as potential venues, but teams have pointed out that some circuits won’t be available or practical, citing security issues at Interlagos, for example, outside of the well-protected GP weekend.
Teams have also suggested that, for practical reasons, car days could be combined – for example, three cars running on the same day would count as three car days. However, Pirelli wants teams to run on their own, ensuring that the days and, thus, tyre development can be spread throughout the season.
“Of course we understand that in a calendar with 21 races it’s not easy to find the way to organise it,” Pirelli technical boss Mario Isola told Motorsport.com.
“So there is a discussion with the teams to find a plan that is good for the teams, and good for us. I can understand that at the beginning they may not have a lot of spare parts, but I don’t think it’s a real issue.
“We need different tracks because we need to run on high-severity circuits and low-severity circuits.
"We need some sessions that are dedicated to wet and intermediate tyres, so of course we need to find some circuits where we can soak the track. So we have a development plan that is covering six or seven months.”
Isola is adamant that Pirelli wants to operate one-car test days: “I can understand the point that if you run more than one car, you have more feedback. But we prefer to have one car, and then we can also test the same solution more than once, on different cars at different tracks.”
There is also a discussion about how the 25 days will be split between 11 teams - if each team runs for two days, a way will have to found to share out the remaining three days, assuming that Pirelli opts to use the full allocation.
The company may elect to use just 22 days to ensure parity. For this year’s mule car testing, only 24 days were used, so that the three teams involved had eight days apiece.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Official: Zak Brown takes over at helm of McLaren Technology Group
Next article Gutierrez still exploring Manor and Sauber options
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Apr 10, 2024
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Latest news
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
47 min
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Why Jorge Martín was not penalised for jump start in Indonesia
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
1 h
Why Jorge Martín was not penalised for jump start in Indonesia
Palou pushes IndyCar’s IR-28 chassis to the limit in rugged Sebring test
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 1 h
Palou pushes IndyCar’s IR-28 chassis to the limit in rugged Sebring test
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe