Mugello crucial for understanding the Pirellis
F1 teams had the opportunity to test during the season for the first time since 2008, with the 2012 Pirelli tires. The three-day test at Mugello took place on the circuit where Pirelli first tested its F1 tire prototypes in August 2010.
The teams were allowed to use any tires remaining from their allocation of 100 sets per car for the year. Thus, we saw the soft compounds as well as the super-softs on the last day. The 2012 tire allocation also includes the testing session scheduled for the end of the year for young drivers.
The heavy rainfall on the first day forced the drivers to fit the intermediate Cinturato Green and wet Cinturato Blue tires and to limit their time on the track. However, the weather was much better on Wednesday and Thursday, allowing the teams to complete their test programs, aimed at aerodynamic evaluation and other improvements, as well as gaining a deeper understanding of the 2012 Pirelli tire range.
Many third drivers were also able to test the Pirellis for the first time at Mugello. A circuit that tests all parameters of tire performance, due to a wide variety of passage speeds and corners throughout the lap. Mugello offers an abrasive surface with long fast curves, as well as a tight hairpin and numerous direction changes.
The fastest time of these tests was set by Romain Grosjean’s Lotus on Thursday morning. It was on hard tires that he recorded a 1’21”035. For comparison, the lap record at Mugello, dating from 2004, is 1m18.704s, from a time of different technical and tire regulations.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: « With so few testing opportunities during the season, this was an important chance for the teams to extend their understanding of the characteristics of our tire range, while trying different part improvements. With the competition being closer than ever, understanding the tires and their interactions with the latest developments was crucial to trying to establish an advantage. The first day at Mugello was swept by rain, but the teams were able to complete longer runs during the last two days, particularly with our medium and hard compounds, collecting a large amount of useful data. These will be extremely valuable when the time comes to plan a race strategy in the future ».
The trials in brief:
The teams completed 405 laps on the first day, then 1005 on the second, and finally 1134 on the third day, which is approximately the distance of 43 GPs!
The ambient temperature ranged between 13°C and 24°C over the three days, while the track ranged from 15°C to 37°C.
The trials in numbers:
– 366 trains de pneus ont été amenés au Mugello: 25 super-tendres, 50 tendres, 107 médiums, 118 durs, 35 intermédiaires et 31 pluie.
– 207 trains de pneus ont été utilisés au Mugello: 3 super-tendres, 20 tendres, 69 médiums, 92 durs, 15 intermédiaires et 8 pluie.
– Le relais le plus long en pneus durs a duré 16 tours.
– Le relais le plus long en pneus médiums a duré 14 tours.
– Le relais le plus long en pneus tendres a duré 13 tours.
– Le relais le plus long en pneus super-tendres a duré 6 tours.
In detail:
Day 1
Alonso 1’22”444 on New Hards
2. Webber 1’23”648 on Used Mediums
3. Vergne 1’23”891 on New Mediums
Day 2
Grosjean 1’21”603 on New Hards
2. Kobayashi 1’21”603 on New Softs
3. Vettel 1:21.825 on New Hards
Day 3
Grosjean 1’21”035 on New Hards
2. Vettel 1:21.267 on New Mediums
3. Alonso 1’21”363 on Worn Hards
[i][From the official Pirelli press release][/i]
