Test for new 2016 supersoft tyre following season-ending Abu Dhabi GP to be followed by artificial wet-weather running at Paul Ricard in January pending final F1 sign-off
Tuesday 22 September 2015 09:22, UK
Pirelli are set to be granted test days following the season in Abu Dhabi and then Paul Ricard in January to prepare their tyre range for 2016, Paul Hembery has confirmed.
Fresh cuts to F1's in-season testing schedule for this year had meant that June's post-Austrian GP test was set to be the final time cars ran outside of race weekends before the start of pre-season testing in March. It also created the prospect of no track action of any kind for a full three months between the final race in Abu Dhabi on November 29 and the start of winter testing in Barcelona on March 1.
However, with Pirelli having pushed for extra tyre testing ahead of next season, F1's Strategy Group have agreed to the concessions in Singapore. The plans now have to be ratified by the F1 Commission and World Motor Sport Council, which next meets on September 30.
"We have been advised that there should a couple of days in Abu Dhabi after the season to look at the new supersoft [tyre]. And two days at Paul Ricard in January for wet testing," Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director, told reporters.
"That's the current situation and only at Strategy Group level, that has to be ratified very quickly of course to enable that to happen."
While Hembery said Pirelli would pay the cost to rent the tracks, it was not yet clear how many teams would be testing their tyres at first Abu Dhabi and then, in artificial wet conditions, Paul Ricard in France.
As things stand, no in-season tests have been scheduled for 2016, but Pirelli have made clear that increased opportunities to test is one of their red lines for staying in F1 beyond the end of next season.
F1 is planning a return to wider rear tyres for 2017 and Hembery suggested at Monza that Pirelli, should they win the tyre tender, wanted a minimum of six three-day sessions with one or two teams at a time.
"If you're asking me just as a tyre maker and what I need it's just one car," he said on Friday. "What we might have to do practically is a different matter. That's open for discussion.
"It's a really complex area because the wider tyres means a completely different car because of all the suspension mounts and everything. So there are varying opinions: if they don't go for the wider track they can mount the wider tyres with some modifications on the car, which will then enable the current car to be used."
