Barcelona in-season test, May 12 – 13, 2015
TEAMS TEST ENTIRE 2015 P ZERO SLICK TYRE RANGE AT BARCELONA, AS WELL AS PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT TYRES FOR THE FUTURE
FOUR TEAMS CARRY OUT TESTING ON BEHALF OF PIRELLI: FERRARI, MERCEDES, RED BULL AND TORO ROSSO
NICO ROSBERG TOPS THE TIME SHEETS FOR MERCEDES, USING THE SOFT TYRE
Every single slick compound of Pirelli’s 2015 range took to the track for the first in-season test of the year at Barcelona: the third test session in total to be held this year at Montmelo, following two pre-season tests there as well.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was fastest in the test, going quickest on the opening morning using the P Zero Yellow soft tyre. The teams used mostly the hard and medium compounds for the Barcelona test, although there was some runs on the supersoft as well: the tyre that will be seen in action for the first time this year at the Monaco Grand Prix in just over a week. Pirelli also brought some prototype tyres for the teams to test, with a view to developments for next season.
Four teams – Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and Toro Rosso – each devoted some time to tyre testing for Pirelli, even though this is no longer compulsory under the 2015 regulations. This allowed Pirelli to try out some evolutions for the future in a well-known environment, which is not otherwise possible during the course of the year with the current cars.
Conditions remained dry and warm throughout both days of the test, with similar conditions to those experienced for the race last weekend. This enabled valid comparisons to be made, with plenty of useful data obtained. Most teams also ran their development or reserve drivers for some of the time, giving them valuable experience of the latest Pirelli compounds.
Paul Hembery: “We tried out a number of different solutions for the future, thanks to the four teams that were testing for us. With all the teams now knowing their cars and this track very well, a considerable number of kilometres were run, which obviously helped our data acquisition. The track had also evolved somewhat compared to the race, which resulted in slightly quicker lap times. Even though there are no specific tyre test days this year, the prototype information we have gained will be useful when it comes to developing our 2016 tyre range for next year.”
Fastest laps and tyre choices per day:
Day 1 Rosberg (Mercedes) 146 laps 1.24.374 Soft Day 2 Palmer (Lotus) 87 laps 1.26.080 Supersoft
The best times today and their tyre choices:
| Lotus | Jolyon Palmer | S. SOFT | 01:26,080 |
| Mercedes | Pascal Wehrlein | MEDIUM | 01:26,497 |
| Red Bull | Pierre Gasly | MEDIUM | 01:26,683 |
| McLaren | Jenson Button | S. SOFT | 01:26,927 |
| Williams | Alex Lynn | SOFT | 01:26,967 |
| Force India | Esteban Ocon | SOFT | 01:27,520 |
| Ferrari | Esteban Gutierrez | MEDIUM | 01:27,930 |
| Toro Rosso | Carlos Sainz J | MEDIUM | 01:27,997 |
| Sauber | Raffaele Marciello | MEDIUM | 01:28,829 |
Testing statistics:
Tyre sets brought to Barcelona test: 274 (including carry-over sets from previous tests) (12 supersoft; 51 soft; 114 medium; 24 hard; 26 intermediate; 18 full wet; 29 prototype)
Tyre sets used during Barcelona test: 290 (4 supersoft; 25 soft; 104 medium; 12 hard; 0 intermediate; 0 full wet, 6 prototype)
Longest run per tyre:
| MEDIUM | Toro Rosso | SAI | 23 | Test Session 2 |
| HARD | Williams | MAS | 12 | Test Session 1 |
| SOFT | Force India | YEL | 12 | Test Session 1 |
| S. SOFT | Lotus | PAL | 5 | Test Session 2 |
| S. SOFT | McLaren | BUT | 5 | Test Session 2 |
