Pirelli Pleased With Bahrain Test Data

Pirelli’s 18-inch tyres were back in action on the 2022 Formula 1 cars at the Bahrain International Circuit this week, for the second pre-season test following the first session at Barcelona two weeks ago.

Temperatures were much higher throughout the three days in Sakhir compared to Spain, with ambient temperatures ranging from 22 to 39 degrees centigrade while track temperatures varied from 26 to 48 degrees. The second day (Friday) was the hottest. Fastest of all in the test was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who set a time of 1m31.720s on the softest C5 compound a few minutes from the end of the final session on Saturday.

Mario Isola – Pirelli Motorsport Director

“The Bahrain test allowed us to gather additional useful data on the behaviour of our new 18-inch tyres on a circuit that’s very different to Spain in terms of layout, temperature, and asphalt characteristics. This was a test that you could split into two parts really: the first two days were very hot as well as windy, which meant that they weren’t so representative as the high temperatures accentuated degradation and distorted the true picture of tyre behaviour. The third and final day was definitely the most important one, thanks to milder temperatures, improved set-ups, and degradation levels that were much more in line with our expectations. This allowed the teams to focus more on the tyres, trying out all the compounds available to them. It’s still quite hard to work out the performance gaps between the tyres, but they seem to be slightly higher than we initially thought, with a similar time difference between each compound.”  

2022 Formula 1 Pre-Season Testing – Overall Best Times Per Driver