Formula 1 official tyre supplier Pirelli has begun the development of 18-inch tires for the 2023 season and three Formula 1 teams will remain in Imola after the 2022 Emilia Romagna GP to help Pirelli by gathering important data about the tyres.
Three single-seaters have begun testing with the new experimental tires: Esteban Ocon is busy with the Alpine A522, while the Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou is on the Alfa Romeo C42 and the French driver Pierre Gasly on the AlphaTauri AT03.
The sole supplier had to convince four teams to participate in the two days of testing at Imola. In fact, the team from Enstone will be replaced by Scuderia Ferrari tomorrow, as the Maranello team will alternate the two drivers, Charles Leclerc and Charlos Sainz at the wheel of the F1-75, while Alfa Romeo will rely on Robert Kubica and AlphaTauri will call the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda.
The density of the 2022 calendar forces Pirelli to concentrate next year’s tire development work on fewer dates despite having 25 car days from the FIA.
The advantage is that the Italian tyre manufacturer does not have to rely on “mule cars” like last year, which were cars designed for 13 inches and had the suspensions adapted to be able to use the new tyres, but will be able to work on this year’s ground-effect single-seaters recording the data resulting from the actual cars and not estimated as in 2021.
In particular, Charles Leclerc will have the opportunity to return to drive on the track where, due to a passionate mistake as the Italians call it “alla Fausto Gresini”, he lost third place that would have allowed him to at least celebrate a podium finish in front of the Tifosi, having to settle for a sixth place that disappointed the expectations of Maranello team’s fans.
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The bad weather that accompanied the Emilia Romagna GP has given way to the sun in Imola: in the afternoon the sky is expected to become cloudy, but the Pirelli technicians will be able to devote themselves to slick tires, following the plans that had been programmed.
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