Pirelli, who will be Formula One’s sole tyre supplier during the 2011 season, have said that the first week’s pre-season testing has been a “good starting point.”
Teams have been testing in Valencia this week, mainly on Pirelli’s soft and medium tyre compounds. Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembrey has said that he was pleased to see longer runs on the tyres.
“Of course all the teams are doing lots of different things, so it’s hard to draw any concentrate conclusions on the tyres,†Hembrey commented.
“We know that they all used used tyres this morning because of the temperature really, because it wasn’t really worthwhile.
“It’s been a good starting point I guess. We’ve had a number of teams running to a full stint, which is what we wanted to see.
“I said yesterday we wanted to do two changes and a number of teams are working in that direction. So from that point of view we’re happy.â€
However it hasn’t all been positive for the tyre company with some drivers complaining about the high tyre degradation compared to Bridgestone’s last year.
“It depends on the compound as well,†Hembrey said. “It’s a bit hard because when it’s too cold the tyres are slipping and it’s also a track that is hardly representative as well.
“All tyres degrade and that’s something people seem to have forgotten over the last few days, that tyres all tyres degrade.
“We have been using the medium compound primarily and we are very happy with the way it’s been working.â€
