Pirelli completed their tyre test at the Yas Marina Circuit, two days after the final race of the 2015 Formula One season. The objective of the test was to collect data about the 2016 dry tyre compounds, including the new ultrasoft compound. Due to the limited amount of tyre testing that Pirelli has been able to do in the past, this Abu Dhabi tyre test was part of their contract extension as the sole tyre supplier of Formula One. The teams that participated in the test were provided with a test programme by Pirelli.
The day was the same for all teams. The test started with teams doing some laps with the 2015 dry weather compounds, so that they could optimize their car’s setup. After roughly an hour and a half, teams were given sets of 2016 dry tyres. These prototype tyres were unmarked so that no team knew what compound they were testing. As stated when the test was first announced, teams were prohibited from fitting and testing new car components.
Stoffel Vandoorne gave the two McLaren drivers an early break, taking over the day’s testing responsibilities. For the first and only time in 2015, the McLaren car was the fastest of the test, setting a time of 1m 44.103s after 99 laps. Kimi Räikkönen was the second fastest, lapping faster than Sebastian Vettel, who had completed laps in the morning. Both Ferrari drivers had an equal opportunity in the test, setting 56 timed laps each.
Further down the field was Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson in third on the time sheets. Lotus reserve driver, Adderly Fong, was one Sauber duty, testing the car in the morning and handing over the car to Ericsson in the afternoon. Sauber completed 57 laps with Fong and 50 laps with Ericsson, but Fong was in the bottom five. Lotus’ new full time driver, Jolyon Palmer, got a taste of a Formula One car, running 90 laps. Palmer will be replacing Romain Grosjean next season, as the Frenchman makes the move to Haas.
Both Red Bull and Toro Rosso ran the test with their regular driver lineup. Daniel Ricciardo was the fastest Red Bull car, setting the seventh fastest time of the session. Daniil Kvyat took control of the Red Bull car in the second half of the day, completing 48 laps and giving the team a total of 105. Max Verstappen was the second driver to take the car out for a spin for Toro Rosso, following Carlos Sainz’s run of 56 laps earlier in the day. Verstappen completed two less laps than his teammate, but was ranked three positions higher on the day’s time sheet.
Nico Hülkenberg drove the Force India car in the afternoon, following Alfonso Celis in the morning. This was Celis’ first time out in a Formula One car. The team completed a total of 136 laps: Celis running 65 laps and Hülkenberg 71. “It was Alfonso’s first day in a Formula One car and it’s always fun to be part of that acclimatisation process,” said Tom McCullough, chief engineer of the Force India team. “He worked well with the engineers and improved throughout the morning as he completed numerous long runs on high fuel.”
As Felipe Massa got started on his winter break, Valtteri Bottas still had one more duty to complete for Williams. The Finn set 103 lap times, but his times were 1.8 seconds off of the pace set by Vandoorne. Manor chose to run two drivers for the test: Rio Haryanto and Jordan King. Haryanto was the first to drive the car, taking responsibility for the morning’s 56 laps. King made his debut inside of a Formula One car in the afternoon. He completed 59 laps, bringing the team’s lap total for the day to 115 laps. The car proved to be quite reliable, but was the slowest of the day.
Overall, Pirelli was satisfied with the work done by the teams to assist in data collection. “We had one shot when it came to testing tyres for next season, and we can be satisfied by what we’ve achieved in this test, even if we have to fully analyze the data,” explained Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director. “We’ve tested different versions of the new ultrasoft compound for 2016, which was one of the targets for this session. The ultrasoft’s target for 2016 is to introduce a compound softer than the supersoft and mainly designed as aggressive choice for street circuits: with better performance than the latest version of the supersoft tyre and faster degradation, in order to allow the Teams to take a more aggressive approach to race strategy.”
Hembery was unable to offer more information about the performance of the new ultrasoft tyre compound at the moment. “Whether this will produce more pit stops, or any difference in strategies, it’s too early to say for now. We will fully analyse our data and team telemetry once we get back to base. But it seems we are heading in the right direction: the ultrasoft is expected to offer more possibilities for certain races.”
This is the final time that we will see all of the Formula One teams together at the same circuit doing testing in 2015. The next public tyre test will be at the Paul Ricard Circuit on January 25 and 26, where Pirelli will be testing their 2016 wet weather tyres.
