Pirelli want more wet tests – in older-spec car

Pirelli have asked the teams to chip with a car and drivers as they look to conduct more wet weather testing, even though it will have to be done in an older-spec car.

Although Pirelli have some days set aside for wet weather testing, Formula 1’s tyre manufacturer acknowledges they need more than the four days on the schedule.

As such Pirelli have asked – and received – permission from F1’s Strategy Group.

Now they need a team and driver to chip in but the car will have to be a 2015-spec car.

“That was a request coming from us,” Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola told 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.”

And although Isola conceded that there is a huge difference between today’s cars and the 2015 machinery, he still believes there is valuable data that Pirelli can obtain by running an older car.

“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.”