First test of smaller new F1 tyres for 2026

In brief

First test for 2026 F1 tyres

Felipe Drugovich completed 670 kilometres of testing for Pirelli yesterday in a modified 2023-specification Aston Martin AMR23 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

This was the first test for the new, smaller tyres F1 will race in 2026. While the 18-inch wheel size will remain unchanged the new tyres have been reduced in width by 30mm at the rear and 25mm at the front.

Superlicence “would have been useful a few years ago” – Herta

IndyCar racer Colton Herta qualified for a Formula 1 superlicence by finishing second in the championship last weekend, but admitted it has come too late after the FIA refused to consider granting an exemption for him to race in the series two years ago.

“It would have been useful a few years ago,” said Herta. “It’s nice to have one, I guess.”

The FIA offers 124 superlicence points to IndyCar drivers per year compared to 201 for Formula 2 and 128 for Formula 3. “I think it’s disrespectful for IndyCar how underrepresented it is,” Herta continued. “But these are all things we know and we’ve talked about in the last three years.”

Herta clinched second in the championship by scoring his first win on an oval. “It’s about time,” he said. “I think there’s been multiple times where I thought we could have won or should have won, and numerous of things would have happened to stop us from doing that. Luckily today we got it all right.”

Rosenqvist continues with Meyer Shank

Felix Rosenqvist has signed a new, multi-year deal to keep him at IndyCar team Meyer Shank beyond the end of next season. He joined the team from McLaren this season and claimed pole position for the second round of the championship in Long Beach, and claimed a best race finish of fourth at Barber Motorsport Park.

Links

Antonio Pérez Garibay, papá de Checo Pérez hospitalizado de emergencia por un pre-infarto (El Heraldo – Spanish)

Sergio Perez’s father is reported to be recovering after collapsing at the family’s home on Sunday.

Mercedes F1 junior Yuanpu Cui wins twice in Chinese F4 cameo (Formula Scout)

‘Racing resumed on lap 11, despite one driver crashing before the restart, and when green flags waved there was another incident which eliminated Peng Yang and meant the safety car returned and led the field to the chequered flag. Cui won, and a five-second penalty demoted Liu from fourth to seventh.’

Chadwick keen to take on IndyCar in 2025 (Racer)

‘Her aspirations are to do something in IndyCar in 2025, but it is a very crowded market at the moment. If she does come back to do Nxt again, I think she’d certainly be a title favourite.’

COTA and Alpine added to official FIA WEC game ‘Le Mans Ultimate’ (WEC)

‘The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Competizione – which contested the opening five races of the current WEC campaign – is similarly a new introduction in Le Mans Ultimate’s second DLC, completing the Hypercar grid, and is accompanied by a whole host of fresh content, updates, iconic liveries and dynamic gameplay feature, co-op mode.’

Browning: ‘Points on F2 debut weekend will help learning curve’ (Formula 2)

‘I was a bit gutted to do the rolling start, but I think it would have been nice to do another race start, but it’s okay. It was very calm.’

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