After testing the wet weather tyres during the final day of the first pre-season test, Pirelli is already planning to introduce revised wet tyre compounds in time for them to be available for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The final day of the first pre-season test for the 2017 Formula One season was devoted to running Pirelli’s new wet weather compounds. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was artificially watered by a fleet of trucks overnight and again during the lunch break. However, it was difficult to keep the track consistently wet throughout the day and the sunshine caused the track to dry up a little quicker than expected. The drier surface could have been the source of some of the drivers’ complaints.
Romain Grosjean was one of the drivers to complain about the intermediate compounds, saying that they degraded too quickly, lasting only about a lap before they lost performance. However, the general consensus in the paddock seems to be that the new wet weather tyres are a big step up from last year’s range.
Pirelli’s motorsport director, Paul Hembery, suggested that the issues witnessed at the test are related to the new width of the tyres. Pirelli held multiple wet tyre tests last year with modified versions of cars from various teams. The cars had been modified to simulate the downforce generated by the 2017 technical regulations, but today was the first day that the wet compounds were run on the actual 2017 car.
