Kobayashi starts Abu Dhabi tyre test for Sauber
Today, for the first time in 19 years, Formula One cars were running on Pirelli tyres again. In warm ambient temperatures and perfect track conditions, Kamui Kobayashi covered 83 laps on the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi and commented positively on next year’s F1 tyre supplier.
Kamui Kobayashi: “I think the tyres from Pirelli are well made. We tested how to work with these new tyres and how we need to further develop our car for them, learning in which way they are different to what we were used to running. The tyres were quite consistent. Only in the morning I struggled with tyre wear, but after we made some set-up changes this wasn’t an issue any longer. It was a very interesting test for us.”
James Key, Technical Director: “It was a very productive day. The baseline set-up was not too far away to begin with. We made a few changes and found a reasonable balance for the car fairly early. We ran our programme as planned with shorter runs to conserve tyres and consistency and a longer run in the end. We feel we learned a lot about the way the Pirelli tyres are behaving and responding to different set-up changes. We have to hand it to Pirelli, the tyres are already on a good level and we feel it was a very positive day.”
What comes next:
Saturday is the second day of tyre testing and the final day of F1 testing until 1st February 2011. Kamui will be driving tomorrow morning, Sergio Pérez will take over driving duties after the lunch break.
