Ferrari performed tyre test with Bearman at Fiorano, Red Bull and Mercedes worked at Monza
Having secured an emotional victory on home turf last Sunday, Ferrari continued to perform on-track work, with Oliver Bearman having got behind the wheel of the Ferrari SF-24 during a Pirelli tyre evaluation test outing. F1Technical’s senior journalist Balazs Szabo reports on Pirelli’s intensive on-track tyre testing programme.
On Wednesday, Ferrari junior driver and soon-to-be Haas racer Oliver Bearman completed a tyre test outing at the Scuderia’s test track at Fiorano, driving the 2024 F1 car, the SF-24 .
The work revolved around developing new solutions for wet and intermediate tyres, making use of the artificial irrigation system available at the short circuit. The British driver initially completed a few laps on dry tyres before focusing on the program set by Pirelli’s engineers. In total, the British driver completed 167 laps.
The Milan-based tyre manufacturer also worked at Monza, performing a two-day test outing. Tuesday saw Mercedes and Red Bull run Pirelli’s 2025 slick tyres while the second day of running involved the Visa Cash RB team.
It was Red Bull and RB reserve driver Liam Lawson to get behind the wheel of the VCARB01, but his day way slightly disrupted by an overnight rain. It meant that the New Zealander used Pirelli’s intermediates for the first hours before switching to the 2025 F1 slick tyres.
Lawson was unable to complete the programme due to a technical issue that occurred in the early afternoon. By that time, he had completed 76 laps, with the fastest time being 1m22.530s.
2026 F1 tyre test
Pirelli will carry on with the on-track testing in Spain on September 17th and 18th when the first prototypes of the 2026 tyres make their debut at the Barcelona circuit. The 2026 F1 season is set to feature one of most significant technical overhauls that sport has ever seen, with both the power units and the aerodynamics set to go through fundamental changes.
Despite these changes, Pirelli is set to stick to the 18-inch tyre, but they wil be slightly narrower than the current ones.
The first test will be conducted with the support of Aston Martin, which will provide a modified AMR23 mule-car to accommodate the new tyre dimensions. The 2025 tyre tests will continue at Magny-Cours on October 1st and 2nd, where Mercedes will be participating on the French track.
