Pirelli give verdict on debut of 18-inch tyres with new 2022 F1 cars in Barcelona testing. Pirelli on debut of 18-inch tyres with new 2022 F1 cars .

The first 2022 Formula 1 pre-season testing session concluded at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, where the ten Formula 1 teams got the first chance to also test Pirelli’s new 18-inch tyres with the new generation of challengers. An initial three days of pre-season testing took place in ambient temperatures which ranged from six to 21 degrees centigrade, while track temperature varied between seven and 31 degrees. The drivers ran on a dry circuit on Wednesday and Thursday and continued during the morning of the last day, while on Friday afternoon the Spanish track was artificially dampened in order to give teams the possibility of testing the new wet-weather tyres in changing conditions. The fastest overall time of the test was set by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who did a 1m19.138s in the last few laps on Friday.

Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!

Pirelli Motorsport Director Mario Isola shares his thoughts on the first pre-season testing session in Barcelona from the official tyre supplier’s point of view:

“We can be pleased with how the three days of testing went, which of course represented the debut of our 18-inch tyres on these new single-seaters, with all the tyre testing up to now having been carried out using only mule cars. The teams and drivers all focussed on gaining confidence with the new models and finding the best possible set up, so it’s too early to talk about the performance gap between the compound or degradation levels. This explains why the C2 and C3 compounds in the middle of the range, which are most often used here in Montmelo, were run more often than the others during the test. Setting the fastest flying lap obviously wasn’t the main objective, but we still saw some interesting lap times; around a second off the quickest race lap from last year’s Spanish Grand Prix. This makes it probable that these cars will end up even faster than their predecessors by the end of the season.” – the Pirelli boss concluded, at the end of the testing session which was held in Barcelona.