Force India used a trio of drivers to test the tyres from new Formula One suppliers’ Pirelli in Abu Dhabi over the two-day test, before commenting that they were ‘impressed’ with this offering.
Adrian Sutil was on track on Friday morning at the Yas Marina circuit, with test and reserve driver Paul di Resta taking over for Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, whilst Tonio Liuzzi was in the VJM03 for the Saturday afternoon session.
The trio completed 123 laps in total, running extensive tests of the soft and medium Pirelli tyres, the two made available for this test.
Afterwards, Chief Race Engineer Dominic Harlow had some positive comments about the tyres provided, and explained how they were evaluated by the team:
“We have been looking forward to this Pirelli tyre test since we received the first real information about the tyres from them in early September. Over these two days we’ve covered more than two race distances and have been impressed with Pirelli’s tyres.
“We’ve allowed all three of our drivers to make an overall assessment in comparison to this year’s baseline, and then we’ve carried out further parameterised testing with the two compounds available. In addition we have run with a great many additional sensors and data acquisition systems to collect as much information as possible from the tyres on track. Having used eight sets, four option and four prime, we feel we’ve built a reasonable early picture of the tyres at a circuit which, although changing in condition, has proven productive for testing.
“The next steps are for us to incorporate what we have learned into the development of VJM04, and for Pirelli’s engineers to analyse the data they have collected as they determine the tyre specifications that will be available to us when we are next testing in February 2011.”
