PIRELLI: FERRARI FASTEST AS MERCEDES GOES FURTHEST
Ferrari threw down a marker to at least show Mercedes might have a fight on their hands this year. There was little between both teams when Vettel and Hamilton ran on mediums on Day 1. Enough to be negated by fuel load and longer runs. That changed on Day 2, with the help of Pirelli’s new Ultrasoft tyre, as The German set a blistering pace with a time of 1:22.810. A time that would have put him 1.8 seconds clear of Nico Rosberg’s pole time from last year. (Set on Mediums)
That time difference can be explained by the gaps between Pirelli compounds with the gaps being circa Ultrasoft (0.5s) Supersoft (0.5s) Soft (1s) Medium. What it does show is that Ferrari seem to have made a massive step. The only question is how much closer they have got to the outrageously high benchmark set by Mercedes.
That wasn’t the full story though. While others may have closed the gap this year at times it looked like Mercedes were preparing for a 6hrs endurance race such was the mileage they clocked up during testing. Only Sainz in the Toro Rosso (On Day 3) came close to matching their lap total. (Sainz 161 laps v 162 laps of LH & NR, who split the day)
Total Mercedes AMG F1 team distance covered over the four day test:
675 laps. (Lewis Hamilton 156, 88 & 99. Nico Rosberg 172, 74 & 86)
3,190Km. Enough to cover 10 race distances.
They did not run on Ultras, Softs or Supersofts.
| Compound | Driver | Team | LapTime | Test Day |
| ULTRASOFT | Vettel | Ferrari | 1:22.810 | DAY 2 |
| SOFT | Vettel | Ferrari | 1:23.741 | DAY 2 |
| MEDIUM | Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:24.867 | DAY 2 |
| SUPERSOFT | Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:23.110 | DAY 3 |
| HARD | Massa | Williams | 1:28.214 | DAY 3 |
| Compound | Driver | Team | LapTime | Test Day |
| ULTRASOFT | Vettel | Ferrari | 1:22.810 | DAY 2 |
| SOFT | Vettel | Ferrari | 1:23.741 | DAY 2 |
| MEDIUM | Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:24.867 | DAY 2 |
| SUPERSOFT | Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:23.110 | DAY 3 |
| HARD | Massa | Williams | 1:28.214 | DAY 3 |
| Compound | Driver | Team | Laps | Test Day |
| MEDIUM | Magnussen | Renault | 30 | DAY 4 |
| HARD | Bottas | Williams | 26 | DAY 2 |
| SOFT | Bottas | Williams | 17 | DAY 2 |
| SUPERSOFT | Vettel | Ferrari | 8 | DAY 2 |
| ULTRASOFT | Vettel | Ferrari | 7 | DAY 2 |
| Driver | Team | Compound | LapTime |
| Vettel | Ferrari | MEDIUM | 1:24.939 |
| Hamilton | Mercedes | MEDIUM | 1:25.409 |
| Ricciardo | Red Bull | MEDIUM | 1:26.044 |
| Bottas | Williams | MEDIUM | 1:26.091 |
| Celis | Force India | SOFT | 1:26.298 |
| Button | McLaren | SOFT | 1:26.735 |
| Sainz J | Toro Rosso | PROTO M | 1:27.180 |
| Ericsson | Sauber | MEDIUM | 1:27.555 |
| Wehrlein | Manor | SOFT | 1:28.292 |
| Grosjean | Haas | MEDIUM | 1:28.399 |
| Palmer | Renault | MEDIUM | 1:29.356 |
| Driver | Team | Compound | LapTime |
| Vettel | Ferrari | ULTRASOFT | 1:22.810 |
| Ricciardo | Red Bull | ULTRASOFT | 1:23.525 |
| Perez | Force India | SUPERSOFT | 1:23.650 |
| Rosberg | Mercedes | MEDIUM | 1:24.867 |
| Ericsson | Sauber | SOFT | 1:25.237 |
| Gutierrez | Haas | SOFT | 1:25.524 |
| Bottas | Williams | SOFT | 1:25.648 |
| Wehrlein | Manor | SOFT | 1:25.925 |
| Button | McLaren | SOFT | 1:26.082 |
| Palmer | Renault | SOFT | 1:26.189 |
| Verstappen | Toro Rosso | MEDIUM | 1:26.539 |
| Driver | Team | Compound | LapTime |
| Hulkenberg | Force India | SUPERSOFT | 1:23.110 |
| Grosjean | Haas | SOFT | 1:25.874 |
| Raikkonen | Ferrari | MEDIUM | 1:25.977 |
| Magnussen | Renault | SOFT | 1:26.014 |
| Rosberg | Mercedes | MEDIUM | 1:26.084 |
| Sainz J | Toro Rosso | MEDIUM | 1:26.239 (161 laps) |
| Nasr | Sauber | SOFT | 1:26.392 |
| Hamilton | Mercedes | MEDIUM | 1:26.421 |
| Kvyat | Red Bull | MEDIUM | 1:26.497 |
| Massa | Williams | MEDIUM | 1:26.712 |
| Button | McLaren | MEDIUM | 1:26.919 |
| Haryanto | Manor | SOFT | 1:28.249 |
| Driver | Team | Compound | LapTime |
| Raikkonen | Ferrari | ULTRASOFT | 1:23.477 |
| Kvyat | Red Bull | ULTRASOFT | 1:24.293 |
| Celis | Force India | SOFT | 1:24.840 |
| Magnussen | Renault | SOFT | 1:25.263 |
| Sainz J | Toro Rosso | MEDIUM | 1:25.393 |
| Nasr | Sauber | SOFT | 1:26.053 |
| Rosberg | Mercedes | MEDIUM | 1:26.187 |
| Hamilton | Mercedes | MEDIUM | 1:26.295 |
| Massa | Williams | SOFT | 1:26.483 |
| Gutierrez | Haas | PROTO M | 1:27.802 |
| Haryanto | Manor | SOFT | 1:28.266 |
PIRELLI ULTRASOFT:
The tyre will achieve maximum efficiency at fairly low temperatures, so it will reach the optimal working range very quickly. Given the characteristics of the Catalan track, with its highly abrasive surface and fast turns that put great pressure on the tyres, the Ultrasoft tyres won’t be used on race weekend in Spain in mid-May.
The Ultrasofts are designed for tracks with slower turns and surfaces with low levels of grip, such as Monte Carlo, or circuits like Canada, Singapore, Austria, or Abu Dhabi. Situations in which grip will have to come from the tyres, since it won’t come as much from the aerodynamic features of the cars. That’s where the Ultrasofts come into their own.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director:
“There are not too many conclusions you can read into the first test of the season, as teams are all trying different things with different specifications of car, making it quite hard to interpret from the outside the characteristics of each tyre. However, from the inside, all the data we have seen so far indicates that the overall tyre performance is about where we expected it to be, during both longer and shorter runs. Our biggest news was the debut of P Zero Purple Ultrasoft tyre, which set the fastest time of the test and provided the extra performance we had aimed for, even though Barcelona is not the type of circuit it is particularly suited to.”
Video and Images by courtesy of Pirelli.
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