Pirelli seeking teams for extra wet tyre tests

Pirelli already has some wet weather running with current cars built into its test schedule, with two days with Red Bull Racing at Paul Ricard on May 31/June 1, and two more with McLaren at Magny-Cours on July 19-20.

However, as the rest of its test days will be with a focus on dry running, the Italian tyre manufacturer has asked for more wet track time - which can only be done with older-spec cars.

Last week, the F1 Strategy Group agreed that the Italian company could pursue such a programme, and thus it is now talking to teams about the availability of 2015 machinery to do the job.

Pirelli still believes it can benefit from such testing, despite having to use the previous smaller rim sizes and the reduced downforce.

“That was a request coming from us,” said Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola when asked by Motorsport.com. “Because we believe that we can have a few additional sessions for wets and intermediates, where we can test some ideas on previous cars and older sizes.

"Of course we have some baselines, so we can compare the new ideas to the baselines, and have some indication for the development of the current sizes.”

Isola acknowledged that there was some compromise involved: “It is different, we have different cars, we have different downforce, we have different sizes, but in some specific areas we can test some new solutions, and get some important feedback to address the development of the 2018 tyres.

“The idea is to test something on the previous cars to give us a direction, and then to reduce the number of options on the current cars.

"As we are limited with the number of days with the current cars, we can make some preparation work with the previous cars in order then to go and test a reduced number of prototypes on the current cars.”

Isola said all the teams have been given the opportunity to provide a car, with the full costs of the sessions paid by Pirelli.

“At the moment we are in discussion with all of them. We offered this opportunity to all the teams, and we’ll see who is available. It is a busy season for everybody, so it is not easy to find the availability of the teams.

“We know that in general they are always supportive and trying to help, and I’m confident that we can find a couple of teams to help us with these additional sessions. I think by Barcelona we will have some ideas on who is available to provide a car.”