Pirelli begin 2017 tyre tests with Ferrari at Fiorano

2016 F1 season

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Pirelli has begun its tyre testing programme for the 2017 season today with Ferrari.

Vergne is driving the Ferrari for Pirelli
F1’s official tyre supplier is running at Ferrari’s Fiorano test circuit (below) with Jean-Eric Vergne at the wheel of a 2014-specification Ferrari F140T.

The tyres it is testing are the same dimensions as those being used this year, but feature other prototype elements aimed at developing the new shape tyres for next season.

From 2017 maximum front wheel widths will increase from 355mm to 380mm and rear wheel widths will increase from 380mm to 465mm. Wheel diameters will increase by 10mm to 370mm for dry-weather tyres and 380mm for intermediate and wet-weather tyres.

Pirelli has been given an increased allocation of 25 cars days of testing this year in order to prepare its new tyres for next season. However last weekend motorsport director Paul Hembery revealed the new shape 2017 rubber won’t be tested until the new year.

Sunday’s race was the one hundredth for Pirelli since returning to Formula One at the beginning of 2011. Next year will see the commencement of their third three-year contract as official tyre supplier.

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Keith Collantine
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14 comments on “Pirelli begin 2017 tyre tests with Ferrari at Fiorano”

  1. I’m not surprised that Ferrari is being chosen for this test, and that too at Fiorano

    1. @todfod, the weather conditions in the UK (where most of the remaining teams are) have been unusually cold in recent weeks and therefore unsuitable for testing. You have to bear in mind that the third practise session for the 6 Hours of Silverstone, which was only a few weeks ago, had to be cancelled because it was snowing – the conditions now are really unrepresentative of the normal conditions you’d expect to hold a race in. http://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/silverstone-wec-third-practice-cancelled-by-snow-687545/

  2. I was told last week that several of the smaller teams are very unhappy about this testing because they believe its going to give the big 3-4 teams a significant advantage over them for next year when it comes to understanding some of the characteristics of the tyres, Especially as they get closer to the final 2017 specification in a few months.

    1. Do you know which teams will be doing the tyre tests for Pirelli?

      Honestly, it would be ridiculous if none of the teams other than Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull weren’t even asked if they wanted to carry out this tyre test

      1. Motorsport had an article about it @todfod, @gt-races – http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/maldonado-helping-pirelli-with-2017-f1-tyres-733043/ – That also seems to explain why Fiorano – it proved hard to get available track time. I guess running the Ferrari there for now is the quickest way to get started. The other teams were also asked if I recall correctly but the cost was too high for them. And as the article states, for now McLaren won’t be testing in the 1st phase as they don’t have a 2014 car+engine available.

        So I do see the issue teams have with others testing, but Pirelli do need to get some more testing done soon if they are to get working tyres for next year. Had the teams not abolished the after-season winter test, that would have been an opportunity for the teams and Pirelli to test, but, they did cancel that one, again for costs reasons.

        1. @bosyber

          I’m glad Vergne is doing the test though. the Motorsport article stated Maldonado will be testing the tyres. There is no way the sport could benefit from constant driver errors and crashes in a tyre test

  3. If it was down to the small teams there would be no testing and next year’s tyres risk being a disaster just to satisfy the peasants at the back. Let them eat cake.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      3rd May 2016, 16:44

      Imagine if the other teams were given the extra amount Ferrari are given regardless of where they finish…

      They could all afford to test next year’s tyres!

      1. And to that add Red Bull, Mercedes, Reanult, McLaren and Williams. Does not matter that’s the way it is.

  4. Kevin Queally
    3rd May 2016, 16:44

    Are there any photos of the new wider tyres on the F14T online yet?

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      3rd May 2016, 17:28

      The tyres it is testing are the same dimensions as those being used this year

  5. “Wheel diameters will increase by 10mm to 370mm for dry-weather tyres and 380mm for intermediate and wet-weather tyres.”
    Have intermediate tyres always been larger than dry-weather tyres? With the wet-weather tyres having different diameters than the dry-weather ones, I expect even more reluctance to use them.

    1. Always have that’s why Inters and Wets have always raised the ride height of a car for any given setup.

  6. Interesting to see what the car looks like with those wider tyres.

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