It has not been a great week for the F1 teams due to the bad weather at the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya and rebound has not been for Pirelli either. The lack of driving involves less information to collect for Italians, especially in dry. Only this Thursday has been the closest thing to normality.
Of course, to know the range of water tires, the weather this week has been the ideal for Pirelli, although the teams have not driven too much on wet track: “All teams have been testing both intermediate an extreme water. For us it is important to know where the crossover is between the slick, the intermediate and the extreme. The grip level is good in dry, but in wet it is not so good. This is quite normal since the asphalt is too new.”
Pirelli focuses on the data that will be collected in the second week of testing: “Next week we will be able to see better the results of our dry tires range. Many teams use only the mediums to do the aerodynamic tests, but with the improvement of the weather next week, we will have some normal tests. Normal temperatures and the teams will be making more race simulations, fast lap simulations that are very important for us.”
Isola has also dropped a possible change in the choice of tires ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix: “We have a deadline in March 8 to select tires for Barcelona and Canada. The circuit is less aggressive with the wheels, and this is very important information for our selection. We could change the compounds we had in mind for Barcelona. For that it is important to know the differences between tires. We have a new software that is helping us a lot to compare the information collected.”
About the times, Isola believes that last year’s times will be greatly exceeded on the same track: “In May, the temperatures on the track will be much higher. Last year the fastest lap was 1:18. This year the times will go down at least a second and probably roll in 1:17. It is difficult to understand if it is thanks to the car, the track or the wheels. We can make comparisons, but at the end of the day there are many things that influence this descent.”
On a possible change of circuit for the tests, Isola made reference to those of last season: “Last year we were lucky and the weather conditions were ideal. It’s funny because last year we needed a wet test. We did it artificially but the track dried up very fast. This year at least we have data in wet.”
For Isola, the Abu Dhabi tests that were carried out at the end of last season, are an important source of information: “This year we have also had the Abu Dhabi tests that have been more representative because two days before the Grand Prix was held there. All the teams were able to compare the old compounds with those of this year. The data here will also be compared with those of Abu Dhabi. We need to understand them”
Finally, Mario Isola has confirmed that all teams will have a private test with them: “Yes, we will use them. We have to talk to all the teams and distribute a dry session for everyone. We proposed it to all the teams and all have said yes. In wet, we have three teams to be able to test. We will go to Paul Ricard, Barcelona, Silverstone, Suzuka …“
