Pirelli Motorsport completed another set of 2025 F1 tyre testing at Paul Ricard with Ferrari drivers in action, running the wet compounds too.
Day 1 –
Fourth development test session of the 2024 season for Pirelli. After those held in Barcelona, Jerez de la Frontera and Suzuka, this week Formula 1’s Global Tyre Partner is at France’s Le Castellet circuit for two days of testing carried out with assistance from Scuderia Ferrari HP, who are fielding the two drivers who made it to the podium on Sunday in the Monaco Grand Prix.
Today, it was Carlos Sainz who got behind the wheel of the SF-24, tasked with carrying out comparison tests of different compounds and constructions for 2025. Given the nature of the circuit, with the 5.842 kilometre layout being used the most, it being the one from the last two French Grands Prix held in 2018 and 2022, the compounds under evaluation were mainly from the softer end of the range, considering that the main aim of the test was to look at reducing overheating.
By the end of the day, Sainz had completed 138 laps (17 on the short track layout) thus covering a distance of 768 kilometres. Work at Le Castellet continues tomorrow when Charles Leclerc will be on track, fresh from his win at his home race. The Monegasque will work mainly on the development of new solutions for wet weather and intermediate tyres on an artificially watered track, making use of Paul Ricard’s irrigation system.
Day 2 –
Second day of testing for Pirelli at Le Castellet’s Paul Ricard Circuit (France) again working with Scuderia Ferrari HP. Charles Leclerc was at the wheel of the SF-24, working primarily on development of wet weather tyres for both extreme and intermediate conditions. The winner of last Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix drove on a 3.523 kilometre track layout, artificially watered with the circuit’s irrigation system, the volume of water being varied to reproduce as accurately as possible the conditions required to run the usually blue banded tyres (Extreme Wet) and the green banded ones (Intermediate).
By the end of the day, a total of 160 laps had been completed, equal to 585 kilometres. “We’ve had two very useful days of testing, continuing not only our development programme for slick tyre compounds and construction, but also at the end, trying some solutions for the extreme wet and intermediate tyres that we did not get the opportunity to run over the winter,” commented Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director.
“The circuit’s irrigation system meant we were able to maintain a constant water level on the track surface to be able to compare the various prototypes. Of course, there are several factors that are impossible to reproduce at a test, such as the weather and indeed, it was a nice sunny day at Paul Ricard and then there’s the fact the track is not particularly hard on tyres.
“Nevertheless, we gathered a lot of data that we will now analyse to see in which direction we need to go on the development front. We are more advanced with the dry weather tyre programme and we are now close to defining the construction and compounds for 2025. We covered 1,350 kilometres of very useful testing and I’d like thank Ferrari and its drivers for their support.”
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[Note: The story is as per press release]