Pirelli will have another day of intermediate testing after Alpine faced issues the last time as they are now finalising the compounds for Abu Dhabi F1 test.
With the 2021 F1 season nearing its end, Pirelli is finalising the slick and wet tyre compounds for 2022 when the big change to 18-inches happens. While the former seems to be done, there is missing information on the intermediate compound. And they are to organise another day for testing by mid-October.
Homologation for the slick tyres is also an urgent matter for Pirelli in order to provide tyre data as soon as they can to teams, as they are looking to test final versions of 2022 in Abu Dhabi. The 18-inch tyres have gone through multiple testing throughout their process and development by the Italian tyre manufacturer.
Testing took place in Spain, Bahrain, Italy, France, Austria, and Hungary over the course of the year and they have finalised the compounds for both the slicks and the wets. The intermediates, however, have not come up with enough data to be finalised and homologated, after the last test saw Alpine develop a mechanical issue.
They tested at Magny Cours where Daniil Kvyat completed 66 laps on the wet compound which completed its run, while only managed 25 on the intermediate. Pirelli is hoping to organise another test at either Circuit Paul Ricard or Magny Cours as per Isola, since those are the two tracks with the sprinkler system in place.
“So in Magny Cours we had this mechanical issue with the mule car provided by Alpine,” said Isola to FormulaRapida.net. “Unfortunately, we tested only one day. It was okay to get the data for the full wet tyres, so we are now in a position to homologate the full wet tyre. But we still miss information on the intermediate.
“That’s why we agreed that we are going to organise another day of testing probably in Paul Ricard or Magny Cours, we are checking the availability of the circuits mid of October in order to finalise the development of the intermediate tyre,” summed up Isola.
The Abu Dhabi GP in December will not only hist the final race of the season, but also tyre testing where they are to run the 2022 compounds. All but Williams are set to bring their mule car to run the final version of next year’s tyres and Pirelli is trying to get information to the teams as fast as they can.
Analysing the data and making plans based on it would be beneficial to the teams. “Talking about the slick tyres, we have the five compounds that we want to homologate and we are preparing the data for the teams,” said Isola. “We want to provide the data as soon as we can and as soon as possible because they are going to test the tyres in the final version in Abu Dhabi after the final race of 2021.
“So if they have the data in advance I believe it’s useful for them to get them and analyse them and start to make a plan for. I know that Abu Dhabi is late in the year but we have a lot of races planned from now to Abu Dhabi, so if we can anticipate the information to the teams it’s better for them,” summed up Isola.
The story was written by Selena Aburas
Here’s Pirelli on the 2022 F2 and F3 tyres