Pirelli F1 Test results- Abu Dhabi – Motorsport.ie

 MORE THAN 6,020 KMS DRIVEN OVER 1084 LAPS, TESTING DIFFERENT VERSIONS
OF THE NEW ULTRASOFT COMPOUND
AND NEW CONSTRUCTIONS FOR BOTH FRONT AND REAR SLICK TYRES

 McLAREN’S DRIVER STOFFEL VANDOORNE SETS BEST TIME
AT THE END OF THE 12-HOUR SESSION RUN NON-STOP

 NEXT TYRE TESTING SESSION ON SCHEDULE:
PAUL RICARD, JANUARY 25-26, FOCUSING ON WET TYRES

 Abu Dhabi, December 1, 2015 – McLaren’s driver Stoffel Vandoorne set fastest time at the end of the 12-hour tyre test organised by Pirelli on the smooth surface of the Yas Marina circuit on Monday.
The session took place non-stop throughout the day, with the expected bright sun and warm temperatures starting out at around 24°C ambient (35°C asphalt) and reaching 28° and 40° respectively by lunchtime.

All 2015 Teams took part with the following drivers:
Mercedes	Pascal Wehrlein
Ferrari	Sebastian Vettel	Kimi Raikkonen
Williams	Valtteri Bottas
Red Bull	Daniel Ricciardo	Daniil Kvyat
Force India	Alfonso Celis Jr	Niko Hulkenberg
Lotus	Jolyon Palmer
Toro Rosso	Carlos Sainz Jr	Max Verstappen
Sauber	Adderly Fong	Marcus Ericsson
McLaren	Stoffel Vandoorne
Manor	Rio Haryanto	Jordan King

The session started with all the drivers running some laps on base tyre to confirm the set-up of the cars and using P Zero Red supersoft and P Zero Yellow soft tyres: the nominated choice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend.

Testing with the prototype tyres (new ultrasoft compound and new constructions both front and rear) started around one and a half hours into the session. The Teams tested several different potential variations of the new ultrasoft compound, from which one will eventually be selected.
Prototype tyres were not marked with any colours or other visible markings, while base tyres carried the usual colours on sidewalls.

The test was ‘blind’: neither the drivers nor the Teams knew which kind of tyre specification they were testing. During the test, the teams were not allowed to try new parts or change any other components, keeping the focus on the tyres. With its smooth surface, consistent temperatures, and wide variety of technical corners, Abu Dhabi was a perfect venue in which to assess most key aspects of tyre behaviour.

The session started at 9am local time and went on till nearly 9pm with no lunch break. This made it the longest single-day Formula One group test in the sport’s history.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “We had one shot when it came to testing tyres for next season, and we can be satisfied by what we’ve achieved in this test, even if we have to fully analyze the data. We’ve tested different versions of the new ultrasoft compound for 2016, which was one of the targets for this session. The ultrasoft’s target for 2016 is to introduce a compound softer than the supersoft and mainly designed as agressive choice for street circuits: with better performance than the latest version of the supersoft tyre and faster degradation, in order to allow the Teams to take a more aggressive approach to race strategy.

Whether this will produce more pit stops, or any difference in strategies, it’s too early to say for now. We will fully analyse our data and team telemetry once we get back to base. But it seems we are heading in the right direction: the ultrasoft is expected to offer more possibilities for certain races.

We also tested some different constructions for both front and rear tyres.

Fastest times of the day:
Driver	Team	Time	Laps
Vandoorne	McLaren	1m44.103s	99
Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m44.456s	56
Ericsson	Sauber	1m44.480s	50
J. Palmer	Lotus	1m44.568s	90
Vettel	Ferrari	1m44.940s	56
Wehrlein	Mercedes	1m45.605s	107
Ricciardo	Red Bull	1m45.805s	57
Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1m45.849s	54
Hulkenberg	Force India	1m45.852s	71
Bottas	Williams	1m45.940s	103
Kvyat	Red Bull	1m46.309s	48
Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1m46.995s	56
Fong	Sauber	1m48.439s	57
Celis Jr	Force India	1m48.545s	65
Haryanto	Manor	1m49.593s	56
King	Manor	1m49.661s	59