Pirelli Bahrain test of 2025 completed

This afternoon, the curtain came down on a long test session for Pirelli at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit. After the three day official pre-season test, from 26 to 28 February, Formula 1’s Global Tyre Partner spent the past two days working with Alpine and Williams on further on-track development of the 2026 tyres which, as per the regulations will feature a smaller diameter and will be narrower by 25 millimetres at the front and 30 at the rear, than the current ones.

Yesterday, Carlos Sainz was driving for Williams and Ryo Hirakawa for Alpine, at the wheel of their respective mule-cars, based on their 2023 season machines, the FW45 and the A523. In the respective cockpits today, Alexander Albon and Paul Aron.

Yesterday’s work focused solely on a comparison of different constructions, using just one compound, while today it was the opposite: the drivers were able to test various types of compound, from the C1 to the C3, using just one construction in order to have a stable baseline for the comparison of data from the different prototypes.

Today, the weather finally improved with ideal temperatures of between 19 and 24 °C for the air, with the track going from 23 to 38 °C. Alpine’s Estonian driver completed 130 laps, the quickest in 1’35”407, finishing his day’s work shortly after 16.30. Williams’ Thai driver did 120 laps with a best time of 1’35”667.

“Another very useful day for the development of the 2026 tyres,” commented Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport. “Almost 2,700 kilometres completed, we have been able to gather a significant amount of data to take forward in our programme. I would like to really thank the drivers and teams who extended their stay at the Bahrain track by a further three days at what is such a busy time, with less than two weeks to go to the first race. In Sakhir we continued with a comparison of different types of construction and compound, the latter at the hardest end of the range, to suit the characteristics of this track. Now, our colleagues in R&D will analyse the information carefully and provide useful indications so that we can continue to improve the product for the next generation of cars.”

The next test session for the 2026 tyres will take place at Silverstone (UK) on 7 and 8 May: Mercedes will be on track, working on the development of the intermediate and extreme wet tyres. Formula 1 returns to Bahrain for the 21st edition of this Grand Prix over the weekend of 11 to 13 April.