The familiar Bridgestone sidewalls are gone and as of today we now have the eye-catching yellow of Pirelli.
Here are pictures of all the F1 cars testing on Pirelli tyres for the first time at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi today.
2011 F1 testing
Images © Ferrari spa, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, Pirelli, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India F1 Team
Griggs
19th November 2010, 16:34
Its funny to see the sponsorship logos on the Hispania car have been quickly and cheaply painted over with a matte grey paint.
Pika
19th November 2010, 16:38
The yellow writing on the tyres looks much more ‘sportish’ then the boring white of the Bridgestones!
Never noticed the “THANK YOU LOTUS FANS” on the car before.
Gerdoner
19th November 2010, 17:00
On the other hand, the white didn’t collide with any team colors, whereas that’s not the case with the yellow… so i’m all for white Pirelli logos ;)
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th November 2010, 17:11
The white didn’t, but the green from the soft tyre stripe, did…
Gerdoner
19th November 2010, 23:17
True
(filler text so that the comment is not too short)
Sangeen
19th November 2010, 18:49
They look very nice on the lotus cars and will do so even more with the black and gold livery next year.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
20th November 2010, 3:13
I don’t know why, but I like the green band on the ‘option’ compound tyres! I don’t know whether that is because it is aesthically pleasing or it signifies Formula 1 at it’s fastest. All I know is that I get excited when I see the green band – as it means we are going to see some blistering lap times!
Also, who is in this picture? http://bit.ly/da6D8N – It says it is Rosberg, but that isn’t his helmet is it? http://bit.ly/9oDGCg – This is Rosberg, and he has a different helmet…
Ben
20th November 2010, 3:20
Pretty sure it would be Rosberg. He’s probably just trying out a new helmet, it looks like an unpainted carbon fibre helmet.
You can tell its him frm the gloves, Rosberg wears yellow and Schu wears red to match their normal helmets.
ajokay
19th November 2010, 16:58
They look more ‘black’ than the Bridgestones. I still want a 4-way tyre war between Pirelli, Michelin, Bridgestone & Goodyear though. No 2-compound rule and Maximum competition.
Journeyer
19th November 2010, 22:14
I prefer single supplier. The focus on should be on the car or the driver, not on the tyres.
Fixy (@)
19th November 2010, 17:52
Nice Massa’s photo from in front.
Hey
19th November 2010, 17:57
They look like comedicly over-inflated lego wheels. Cool!
King Six
19th November 2010, 18:36
They need to have something else instead of the green stripe, like a yellow stripe or something for the softer/option tyres.
That’s FIA though, not Pirelli. The yellow writing looks cool, still
Sangeen
19th November 2010, 18:46
The Pirellis look so much more bulkier than the bridgestones.The sizes of tyres are the same as this years bridgestones arent they?
Oliver
19th November 2010, 19:19
Seen from a distance, the Yellow immediately reminds me of Goodyear.
Journeyer
19th November 2010, 22:15
Me too! Funnily enough, the last time Pirelli were around, they used white markings since Goodyear used yellow.
Calum
19th November 2010, 19:37
It’s really bugging me because I don’t know why the Lotus car has the question mark on it’s sidepod mounted wing mirror thing. The mystery of why they changed it from the racers number to that question mark during the season.
Oh, and I see the HRT car has no colored camera on top of the airbox.
Fixy (@)
19th November 2010, 21:34
There was LR8 on the sidepod, a sponsor. Since Japan they changed it to a “?”.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
20th November 2010, 0:53
Maybe the question mark is because their name is in question. Japan was the first race after Group Lotus announced their legal challenge to the rights…
HounslowBusGarage
19th November 2010, 20:06
That’s an intersting pic of the left front of Kubica’s car. Very grained up.
Oliver
19th November 2010, 20:57
But the graining looks very consistent.
Oliver
19th November 2010, 20:12
Is it my imagination or do these tyres seem shorter when looked at from the side?
Wificats
19th November 2010, 22:10
These tyres look some much nicer than the Bridgestone slicks. When they reintroduced slicks last year, I was hoping for a return of the nicely proportioned slicks of yesteryear, but instead the Bridgestone slicks looked like Cartwheels, or hockey pucks because the sidewalls were way too flat (Don’t even mention the green stripe!).
The combination of the better colour of black, the yellow “Pirelli” logos and the nice curve/ bulge in the sidewall, make the Pirellis look much more aesthetically pleasing.
Bullfrog
19th November 2010, 23:26
sounds daft, but they really are blacker and rounder than the old ones!
Oliver
20th November 2010, 7:44
I guess it must be the curved sidewalls making the tyres appear to look shorter when viewed from a sideways angle.
GeeMac
19th November 2010, 22:23
I didn’t see it too much in these pics, but from the pics on F1.com it seemed like every single set of tyres grained up pretty badly.
Glad to see Pirelli back though!
BNK Racing
20th November 2010, 1:09
its a shame they didnt increase the size of the rims like in IRL
Name
20th November 2010, 8:36
ithink HRT will have no sponser because they are having trouble with money problems and their cars sucks! No wonder they don’t have sponsers anymore.
btw i am only 13, so I dont care about my ENGLISH :P
Nixon
20th November 2010, 9:26
What is that black thing on Massa’s car? it looks like a sword.
matt88 (@matt88)
20th November 2010, 12:58
it’s a Pitot tube. thanks to F1F, now i can proudly know these kinds of things. :)
Alex Bkk
20th November 2010, 10:33
I’m trying to decide if the yellow Pirelli logo looks better on the RB or the Renault?
It’s certainly a better tire if nothing else.
Alex Bkk
20th November 2010, 10:35
better looking tire*