Pirelli nominates 2020 tyres after three-team test

2020 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

Pirelli has decided to use the new compounds it has developed for the 2020 F1 season after conducting an extra test involving three teams at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes all participated in the test, covering a total of 404 laps between them. Sebastian Vettel completed 145 laps for Ferrari, Alexander Albon did 115 laps in his Red Bull and Esteban Ocon concluded the running with 144 laps for Mercedes.

“The aim of the test was to validate the latest specification of 13-inch 2020 tyres following the most recent guidelines agreed with the teams,” said Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola.

“We carried out plenty of running with the three top teams over two days, which enabled us to collect the data that we wanted. As a result, we are now in a position to nominate the 2020 specification.”

This was the final development test for F1’s 13-inch tyres. All 10 teams will now run the final specifications in a post-season test at Yas Marina in December.

Pirelli also conducted a test of its new 18-inch tyres for next year’s Formula 2 championship. F1 will switch to 18-inch wheels and tyres in 2021.

Don't miss anything new from RaceFans

Follow RaceFans on social media:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2020 F1 season

Browse all 2020 F1 season articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

12 comments on “Pirelli nominates 2020 tyres after three-team test”

  1. Let’s give the biggest teams a 2 month head start on suspension development as it relates to tyre performance!

    F1 will try an unenforceable budget cap to create a competitive field, but give massive regulation and development advantage to the moneyed teams like this.

    Let the big teams test tyres in February.

    1. I don’t really have an issue with the big teams doing these tests as the data is shared among all the other. Ok, having the data isn’t quite the same as having actually conducted the test, but on the other hand the smaller teams would probably have been unable to commit the resources to participate in this test anyway.

      Also, having the best 2019 cars (which subject the tyre to the greatest loads) should also be the best way to collect meaningful data for 2020 – if we work on the assumption that all teams will add downforce to their cars over the winter.

    2. @asherway A tire supplier will tend to want to have the initial tire test’s done with the top teams because they want to put the highest loads through the tires in order to get the most representative data on if they are hitting there targets.

      It was a tire test designed around getting Pirelli a specific set of data to help them understand if there going in the right direction with compounds/construction. It’s easier from Pirelli’s side to put the highest loads through the tires because that gives them the best data to move forward with.

      And in tire test’s which are run by Pirelli the teams don’t know what compounds there running & are limited in terms of what data they can pull from the cars. They won’t be able to pull any tire or suspension data for instance so it won’t actually be a benefit to the teams as far as helping with the 2020 car design.

    3. These are the 13 inch tyres for 2020 NOT the low profile 18 inch ones for 2021. Did you even read the article?

      1. Another idea is to put next season tyres to the test at remaining GP after WDC is settled. The championship should be pronounced complete by the time the winner can’t be beaten anymore. The remaining GP acts as a play off to make sure two drivers will leave the grid and make place for the F2 champ and the FW champ. In this time next season tyres are used for data for both Pirelli and development.
        This all would add some interesting twists in the end of the season.

  2. Yeah. Lower ranked teams should get more testing.

    1. @jureo
      They don’t want to or can’t, because they don’t have the budget to run these additional tyre-tests.

      They rejected them in the past and thus Pirelli stopped asking the smaller teams.

      Ideally, all the teams should test the tyres. But since they (i.e. Toro Rosso) said it would just be a waste of money for them, just the big-three get to test the tyres.

      1. Force India/Racing Point can afford to send car for tyre testing. And they might be the most neutral of the top-3.

  3. New tyres will last mind-boggling 1.25 (1 and a quarter) laps of pushing!

    All hail Pirelli!

  4. the most recent guidelines agreed with the teams

    Do we have any idea of what guidelines it is referring to?

    1. “Rounded slick tyres”

      That’s it I guess.

  5. Why bother with new compounds, 2021 is around the corner.

Comments are closed.