Day 1 of Pirelli test at Abu Dhabi
By Oscar Joseph
Less than a week since the final race of the 2010 F1 season the teams and some drivers got underway with the first of two days of Pirelli tyre testing at the Yas Marina Circuit where Vettel was crowned WDC five days ago.
Crucially this will be the only testing for the teams and drivers to see how the tyres perform before the new cars are launched next year. With the notable exception of both McLaren’s former WDC duo of Button and Hamilton along with HRT all teams fielded a 2010 driver. McLaren test driver Gary Paffet stood in for Button/Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado carried out the testing for HRT. A ‘driver’ also absent from the first day of testing was Force India’s Karun Chandhok. Will this be the end of his involvement in F1? It would of been poignant to see an Indian driver on the grid at the first race at the Jaypee Circuit. Force India’s tyre testing is being carried out by Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta.
Every team has been supplied with four sets of tyres for Fridays testing but any unused sets are allowed to be carried over into the second day.
So far the drivers and teams have been fairly positive in their comments towards the new supplier with new WDC Sebastian Vettel saying “I think the tyres behaved well, better than expected given the short amount of time Pirelli have had and they’ve done a good job. Pirelli are obviously in the middle of their development and what we used today is not what we will race with, but it was a good start. The circuit was in good condition and we had blue skies all day.”
Massa had a nice day too and ended the testing 0.330secs faster than the current World Champion, saying “I felt at ease right from the start”.
Ross Brawn of the Mercedes Team added ” Today has been very important for the team to start building our relationship with Pirelli. Whilst a lot of details remain to be understood, we feel that we have gained an initial understanding of the operational requirements of the two compounds that we have and have highlighted some important areas for investigation and improvement. We have been lucky to have been able to get exposure to the Pirelli tyres at a track with which we are now very familiar and in conditions that we will not experience again until the final test of the season in Bahrain. Michael watched today’s proceedings with great interest and is looking forward to experiencing the tyres for himself tomorrow.”
Information regarding the 1st days testing can be seen below:
| Pos. Car Driver Team Best Lap No. of laps |
| 1 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’40.170 94 |
| 2 5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1’40.500 78 |
| 3 51 Garry Paffet McLaren 1’40.874 94 |
| 4 23 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1’40.950 83 |
| 5 11 Robert Kubica Renault 1’41.032 39 |
| 6 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams 1’41.425 91 |
| 7 37 Paul di Resta Force India 1’41.615 21 |
| 8 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’41.778 81 |
| 9 17 Jamie Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1’42.019 71 |
| 10 14 Adrian Sutil Force India 1’42.859 20 |
| 11 24 Timo Glock Virgin 1’44.124 78 |
| 12 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1’44.686 88 |
| 13 40 Pastor Maldonado HRT 1’45.728 83 |
