Pirelli plans 28 days of testing with 18-inch tires

The aerodynamic revolution planned for 2022 will also be accompanied by the introduction of new tires. Next year, the single-seaters will no longer be mounted on 13-inchers, if not on 18-inchers. A big novelty that requires significant preparation.

Already in development, the 18-inchers will continue to be produced throughout the year. In fact, Pirelli is planning 28 days of testing divided into 10 sessions and with the participation of nine teams, Williams not among the participants.

« We look forward to resuming testing of the 18-inch tires soon, says Mario Isola, Pirelli competition manager. We have a program in place that should allow us to pick up where we left off in 2019 (in 2020 the pandemic suspended testing) and thus finish adjusting the final details of this new generation of tires ».

Two of the ten sessions planned for this year have already taken place. In Jérez from February 22 to 24, Ferrari was able to test the 18-inch prototypes on a dry then wet track.

Pirelli will then visit the tracks of Sakhir (Bahrain), Imola (San Marino), Barcelona (Spain), Paul Ricard (France), Spielberg (Austria), Silverstone (Great Britain) and Budapest (Hungary) before the closing of the program in Magny-Cours (France) next September.