Leclerc completes tyre test with Sauber

Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli completed a successful test session with the Sauber F1 Team after the Mexican GP to continue its preparation work on its new tyre compounds for the 2018 Formula One Championship season.

Mexico played host to the last round of this year’s championship at last weekend. While most of the teams packed up their equipment quickly right after the chequered flag fell, the sport’s sole tyre manufacturer and the Sauber F1 Team stayed at the Hermanos Rodriquez race track to test the 2018 tyre compounds.

2017 Formula 2 champion Charles Leclerc sat behind the wheel of the Sauber C37 after the Monegasque driver served driving duties in Friday’s first practice session and completed 28 laps.

Following some rain at night, the track was still damp at the beginning of the day. It enabled Leclerc and Pirelli to test the green-striped intermediate tyres in the early part of the session. As air temperature was already 18 degrees at the beginning, the track dried up quickly. Ambient temperature rose up to 24 degrees, however, the weather remained variable throughout the whole day.

LecLerc completed 104 laps in his Sauber, racking up 447 kilometres.

Pirelli will be back on track for another test session aimed at the 2018 compounds in Brazil between 14 and 15 November where McLaren-Honda will try out the new tyres in the post-Brazilian GP test.