Pascal Wehrlein turned the first laps Mercedes have with 2017-sized tyres as Pirelli’s testing programme resumed two-fold on Tuesday.
Mercedes AMG PETRONAS tested with Wehrlein at the French circuit of Paul Ricard, while Scuderia Ferrari gave Kimi Raikkonen a day in the car at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.
2017-spec tyres are 25% wider than the current 2016-spec, with the aim to increase the speed of the Formula 1 cars, and the Italian tyre manufacturer are running a series of tests with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing in order to prepare themselves for the fully-blown introduction of the tyres next season.
Wehrlein completed 134 laps on Tuesday on the first day of a three-day test for the German marque, while Raikkonen ran 111 laps on the first of two days for the Italian outfit, primarily on a prototype Medium tyre.
Sebastian Vettel is to take over the driving duties on Wednesday from Raikkonen, but Wehrlein is marked down to participate in all three days of the test for Mercedes.
Kimi Raikkonen – Credit: Scuderia Ferrari
