Pirelli Motorsport undertook its first F1 2026 tyre test with Aston Martin for two days at the Barcelona circuit as they start early.
Day 1 –
A particularly important test took place today at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit. The first prototypes of the tyres that will be used as from the 2026 season underwent their first track session. As confirmed by the FIA, the 18” rim diameter stays the same as on the current generation of cars, while the width and external diameter of the tyres will be slightly smaller on both the front and rear axles.
After the first stages of design, simulation and test bed work, in parallel, the development programme will involve a series of track tests carried out with the vital collaboration of the teams. As per the first version of the technical regulations, the details of which remain to be finalised, the aerodynamic configuration of the cars will be very different and therefore the loads exerted on the tyres will also change.
Track testing is therefore important to reproduce as closely as possible the conditions which will be found in 2026. Therefore, the teams taking part in the tests will use a modified car and the first of these is Aston Martin who provided an adapted 2023 car. The Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team’s reserve driver, Felipe Drugovich was on track today. The Brazilian, a member of the Silverstone-based squad’s Academy completed 670 kilometres and will be back on track again tomorrow.
Day 2 –
Another day during which plenty of kilometres were racked up at the Pirelli test carried out in conjunction with the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit. Today’s programme saw a continuation of the development of prototypes of the tyres that will be used as from the 2026 season, with the same 18” rims, but with slightly reduced width and diameter tyres than those currently in use.
Carrying on from yesterday, Brazil’s Felipe Drugovich, the English team’s reserve driver, was again at the wheel. He completed 722 kilometres today, bringing the total for the test to 1,392. “It was a positive debut, as we gathered plenty of information which will prove useful as we continue the development of this new product,” commented Mario Isola, Pirelli Director of Motorsport.
“In this very early stage, it’s important to understand the correlation of the simulation of the loads and the actual reproduction of them on track. To do this, the cooperation of the teams is vital and therefore, I want to thank Aston Martin for having provided a modified car to enable this test to take place. Now our engineers will analyse the data, while in parallel, continuing to develop the product for the next test session which will take place at the Mugello circuit on 8 and 9 October, in collaboration with the McLaren F1 Team.”
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[Note: The story is as per press release]