|
Pirelli’s 18-inch tyres were
back in action on the 2022 Formula 1 cars at the Bahrain International
Circuit this week, for the second pre-season test following the first
session at Barcelona two weeks ago.
Temperatures were much higher throughout the three days in Sakhir compared
to Spain, with ambient temperatures ranging from 22 to 39 degrees centigrade
while track temperatures varied from 26 to 48 degrees. The second day
(Friday) was the hottest. Fastest of all in the test was Red Bull’s Max
Verstappen, who set a time of 1m31.720s on the softest C5 compound a few
minutes from the end of the final session on Saturday.
MARIO ISOLA, PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“The Bahrain test allowed us to gather additional useful data on the
behaviour of our new 18-inch tyres on a circuit that’s very different to
Spain in terms of layout, temperature, and asphalt characteristics. This was
a test that you could split into two parts really: the first two days were
very hot as well as windy, which meant that they weren’t so representative
as the high temperatures accentuated degradation and distorted the true
picture of tyre behaviour. The third and final day was definitely the most
important one, thanks to milder temperatures, improved set-ups, and
degradation levels that were much more in line with our expectations. This
allowed the teams to focus more on the tyres, trying out all the compounds
available to them. It’s still quite hard to work out the performance gaps
between the tyres, but they seem to be slightly higher than we initially
thought, with a similar time difference between each compound.” |
)
