Pirelli has entered the subsequent stage of making ready its smaller tyres for the 2026 Formulation 1 season, with Ferrari and McLaren conducting take a look at work of its tougher tyre compounds at Barcelona this week.
Loads of consideration has gone to Lewis Hamilton persevering with his preparations along with his new Italian employer alongside team-mate Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris, nevertheless it can’t be harassed sufficient that lap instances from the two-day take a look at on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya are completely meaningless, closely relying on the run programmes requested by Pirelli to check its smaller prototype tyres for 2026 and its compounds on the tougher finish of the size.
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Whereas Hamilton may have benefited from extra seat time in a Ferrari from final yr, with the most recent procedures, steering wheel, Ferrari energy unit and so forth, the largest benefactor from the take a look at is Pirelli itself. The Italian tyre producer is up in opposition to it to check and produce tyres which might be narrower – 25mm on the entrance and 30mm on the rear – and smaller in diameter, from 720mm to 705mm-710mm entrance to rear, for use on vastly totally different vehicles subsequent yr.
The issue for Pirelli is that it has no consultant vehicles to check its new rubber on because the new-for-2026 vehicles characteristic considerably lowered drag and fewer downforce generated by the ground and diffuser.
Preliminary plans to scale back total downforce by 40 p.c have been watered all the way down to round 15 p.c following issues over slower lap instances, which at the moment are anticipated to be extra consistent with present efficiency ranges. However the brand new technology of vehicles is considerably totally different in how and the place they generate efficiency, so Pirelli has to depend on the imperfect answer of mule vehicles – equipment from 2022-2024 with trimmed wings – to gather real-life information from its new rubber.
Following an preliminary take a look at with Aston Martin in September – in its 2022 mannequin – and up to date wet-compound operating at Le Castellet, Ferrari and McLaren performed work in Barcelona in more moderen vehicles with considerably decrease wing ranges, showing with absolutely flat mainplanes extra akin to one thing you’ll see in Baku or Las Vegas moderately than on the high-downforce Montmelo circuit.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24 throughout Pirelli take a look at
Picture by: Pirelli
The general downforce ranges of those mule vehicles might be comparatively near the start-of-2026 specs, however as a result of the vehicles are so totally different it’s nonetheless tough for Pirelli to appropriately reproduce the hundreds its tyres might be subjected to. It’s due to this fact counting on being frequently fed simulations from groups to remain forward of the curve.
“The primary assessments have been primarily devoted to grasp how the mule vehicles are working, as a result of clearly they’re totally different,” Pirelli’s motorsport chief Mario Isola informed Motorsport.com. “The one factor we will do is to constantly ask for up to date 2026 simulations from the groups, principally. We should replace our know-how and replace our development in line with the information that we obtain.
“We can not simply depend on the mule vehicles as a result of it received’t be wise, and we are going to proceed to offer them a digital mannequin of the tyre to make use of of their simulators and so they come again to us with their suggestions. And that is the best path we must always proceed in.”
Each decreasing downforce total and altering how it’s generated may have a significant impression on the character of the hundreds 2026’s smaller tyres are going to be subjected to. For Pirelli it’s due to this fact essential to get the interior development of its new tyres in the best ballpark. Any additional fine-tuning can then be accomplished by tweaking the compounds.
The Italians are usually not simply taking anticipated 2026 efficiency under consideration, as F1 squads at all times have a tendency to search out speedy positive aspects at first of a rules cycle, and Pirelli due to this fact has to have sufficient headroom to account for greater tyre masses additional down the road.
One necessary problem added to the combination is the upcoming X-mode, a DRS-like type of energetic aerodynamics which modifications the angle of the entrance and rear wings on the straights for greater prime speeds, versus the usual configuration which is dubbed Z-mode.
“We can not generate these downforce ranges with the X-mode and Z-mode, it’s not possible,” Isola defined. “So, we have now to grasp what the most effective compromise for testing is and after we attempt to correlate the information from simulations with information collected on monitor. Step one is to outline the profile and development. From the take a look at we had with Aston Martin we have now a very good place to begin, I’d say. Compound growth is the second step.
Mario Isola, Racing Supervisor, Pirelli Motorsport
Picture by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Photographs
“We all know that it’s a problem, as a result of in any case groups don’t need to lose any efficiency in comparison with the present vehicles, and the tyres are smaller, with decrease loading capability and so forth. We’re additionally once more testing new supplies and new concepts to be able to have a tyre that’s not heavier however nonetheless in a position to maintain the load and to maintain the identical efficiency that the present tyres have.”
It’s not the primary time Pirelli has been chasing a shifting goal with one hand tied behind its again. However Isola identified the problem for 2026 was maybe barely simpler than in 2017, when F1 moved to larger and wider vehicles with far more downforce, which on the time was not possible to copy with a mule automobile. F1’s transfer to ground-effect based mostly vehicles for 2022 was additionally a difficult proposition.
“It is a very related state of affairs to what we had for 2017 and 2022 after we needed to develop an entire new tyre for a whole new automobile, so it is not one thing new to us,” Isola stated in an earlier roundtable.
“In 2016 it was tremendous tough as a result of it was anticipated to have vehicles with a lot greater downforce and the efficiency was 5 – 6 seconds faster than the earlier yr, so it was not possible to copy this sort of efficiency.
“However the best way you obtain the load with the present vehicles is totally totally different in comparison with the brand new one, for instance. And on the straights, we have now plenty of load now, whereas in 2026 at excessive pace we must always have much less load. So, the comparability just isn’t the identical.”
Pictures from Pirelli Barcelona testing
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