Ferrari and Mercedes in test action

Ferrari and Mercedes went into action on Tuesday two days after the spectacular Italian GP to try out Pirelli’s 2017-specification tyres. The Italian team is working at Barcelona while the Anglo-German squad is testing at Le Castellet.

Ferrari began working on the much wider Pirelli rubber at Barcelona. The Italian team has already completed a test session in early August with Esteban Gutierrez and Sebastian Vettel behind the wheel.

After Ferrari’s first test outing mainly concentrated on wet tyres with only a handful of laps on slicks, this two-day testing is aimed to help the development of the wider slick rubber.

As Pirelli asked the three big teams which are set to conduct tyre testing to employ experienced drivers, Ferrari opted to complete the running with its two race drivers.

2007 world champion Kimi Räikkönen tried the new rubber out today while his team-mate Sebastian Vettel is scheduled to run on the fast Barcelona circuit on Wednesday. The Finnish driver completed 46 laps in the morning and a further 65 in the afternoon. According to Ferrari, the Espoo-born driver was running on mediums during most of the day.

Mercedes, which is also involved in the evaluation of the wider tyres, ran the new generation rubber on Tuesday for the first time. The Brackley-based team asked its young development driver Pascal Wehrlein to gain experience with the new product.

Testing continues for Mercedes for two further days with the former DTM champion behind the wheel on both days.