Pirelli has confirmed it made ‘useful progress’ in the Bahrain tests this week after accumulating over 100 laps of testing with experimental tyres for next season.
Overall eight new constructions and six new compounds were tested during the two days, by Caterham on Tuesday and Williams on Wednesday, who completed 110 laps and 595 kilometres between them. Over 250 experimental tyres were brought to the Bahrain in-season test and were exclusively designed with 2015 in mind.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery confirmed he was pleased with the initial progress made.
“The opportunity to test with the current cars is something that we have always wished for and it was vital to have this written into the regulations this year,” Hembery said. “We made useful progress throughout both days of the prototype tyre test, trying out a number of solutions with 2015 in mind, in demanding conditions.
“Having accumulated this valuable data over two days, we will now analyse it carefully to assess the best development direction for the next in-season test in Barcelona, where we expect to see further evolutions in car performance.”
On either day Caterham and Williams alternated prototype runs with baseline runs on the existing tyres, in order to gauge a comparison between the two. Pirelli will continue its work on the 2015 compounds at the next in-season test in Barcelona running from May 13 to 14.