A two day Pirelli test at the Circuit Paul Ricard has concluded, with Sebastian Vettel & Valtteri Bottas completing the day’s action.
Pirelli were carrying out two days of 2019 development work on their prototype slick compounds this week. Running at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Ferrari & Mercedes were the two teams in action. Thursday saw Charles Leclerc make his debut for Ferrari as an officially signed driver; he drove the SF71-H for a total of 129 laps – more than double the race distance from the Grand Prix at the venue two months ago.
With Kimi Raikkonen now being phased out of Ferrari’s preparations for 2019, the Monegasque driver handed over the car to Sebastian Vettel for the second day. Vettel clocked up 121 laps on Friday.
Mercedes opted to run Valtteri Bottas for both days; he did 102 laps on Thursday and 112 laps on Friday.
Pirelli testing is separate to the official F1 testing. All the teams are invited to participate at various test days over the course of the season; none of them are given any knowledge regarding the compounds they are using and the test programs are specifically outlined by Pirelli. No testing of new parts is permitted.
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