Pirelli summarizes first F1 test of 2017

Bottas was fastest overall for Mercedes but Vettel was right there on much harder tires.
Bottas was fastest overall for Mercedes but Vettel's Ferrari was right there on much harder tires.

The first four days of pre-season Formula 1 testing concluded today at the Spanish circuit of Montmelo. A total of 3185 laps were covered, that means 14.826 kms.

From Monday to Wednesday, the drivers tested the new wider slick tires on 2017 cars for the first time. Today they also tried the wet-weather tires on an artificially-dampened circuit, using both the full wet and intermediate.

Mario Isola, Pirelli Racing Manager: “We’re satisfied with the results of these four days. From what we can see up to now, the new product is in line with our expectations. For the 2017 season, the sport asked us to develop tires with less degradation, which allow drivers to push to the maximum. That’s what we’ve seen during these four days of testing so far, and what we’ll continue to see in the second four-day session next week.

During the first session, the lap times have already been lowered considerably. The target was for lap times that were five seconds faster compared to Barcelona in 2015. Yesterday, Valtteri Bottas set a best time of 1m19.705s on ultrasoft tires. Considering that the pole time in 2015 at Barcelona was 1m24.681s, I would say that this objective has been met.

Today, we also saw the new wet weather tires on track for the first time on the 2017 cars. The combination of new dimensions and a new tread pattern means that the water expulsion capacity of the Cinturato Blue full wet tire has gone up from 65 to 85 liters of water per second, per tire, at 300kph. The Cinturato Green intermediate also has an increase: from 25 to 30 liters of water per second dispersed.

We’ve now collected plenty more data for our engineers to analyze ahead of the next test session that takes place from March 7-10, again in Barcelona."

BEST TIMES DAY 1

Driver

Team

Compound

LapTime

Hamilton

Mercedes

SOFT

01:21.765

Vettel

Ferrari

MEDIUM

01:21.878

Massa

Williams

SOFT

01:22.076

Magnussen

Haas

SOFT

01:22.894

Ricciardo

Red Bull

SOFT

01:22.926

Bottas

Mercedes

SOFT

01:23.169

Perez

Force India

SOFT

01:23.709

Sainz J

Toro Rosso

MEDIUM

01:24.494

Hulkenberg

Renault

MEDIUM

01:24.784

Alonso

McLaren

SOFT

01:24.852

Ericsson

Sauber

MEDIUM

01:26.841

BEST TIMES DAY 2

Driver

Team

Compound

LapTime

Raikkonen

Ferrari

SOFT

01:20.960

Hamilton

Mercedes

SUPERSOFT

01:20.983

Verstappen

Red Bull

SOFT

01:22.200

Magnussen

Haas

SUPERSOFT

01:22.204

Ocon

Force India

SUPERSOFT

01:22.509

Kvyat

Toro Rosso

SOFT

01:22.956

Bottas

Mercedes

SOFT

01:22.986

Palmer

Renault

SOFT

01:24.139

Giovinazzi

Renault

SOFT

01:24.617

Vandoorne

McLaren

SOFT

01:25.600

Stroll

Williams

MEDIUM

01:26.040

BEST TIMES DAY 3

Driver

Team

Compound

LapTime

Bottas

Mercedes

ULTRASOFT

01:19.705

Vettel

Ferrari

SOFT

01:19.952

Ricciardo

Red Bull

SOFT

01:21.153

Palmer

Renault

SOFT

01:21.396

Hulkenberg

Renault

SOFT

01:21.791

Ericsson

Sauber

SUPERSOFT

01:21.824

Hamilton

Mercedes

SOFT

01:22.090

Grosjean

Haas

SUPERSOFT

01:22.118

Stroll

Williams

SOFT

01:22.351

Alonso

McLaren

ULTRASOFT

01:22.598

Sainz J

Toro Rosso

MEDIUM

01:23.540

Celis

Force India

ULTRASOFT

01:23.568

Kvyat

Toro Rosso

MEDIUM

01:23.952

BEST TIMES DAY 4

Driver

Team

Compound

LapTime

Raikkonen

Ferrari

SOFT

01:20.872

Verstappen

Red Bull

SOFT

01:21.769

Palmer

Renault

SOFT

01:21.778

Grosjean

Haas

MEDIUM

01:22.309

Giovinazzi

Sauber

ULTRASOFT

01:22.401

Perez

Force India

SUPERSOFT

01:22.534

Vandoorne

McLaren

ULTRASOFT

01:22.576

Bottas

Mercedes

SOFT

01:23.443

Hulkenberg

Renault

SOFT

01:24.974

BEST TIMES – OVERALL

Driver

Team

Compound

LapTime

Test Day

Bottas

Mercedes

ULTRASOFT

01:19.705

DAY 3

Vettel

Ferrari

SOFT

01:19.952

DAY 3

Raikkonen

Ferrari

SOFT

01:20.960

DAY 2

Hamilton

Mercedes

SUPERSOFT

01:20.983

DAY 2

Ricciardo

Red Bull

SOFT

01:21.153

DAY 3

Palmer

Renault

SOFT

01:21.396

DAY 3

Verstappen

Red Bull

SOFT

01:21.769

DAY 4

Hulkenberg

Renault

SOFT

01:21.791

DAY 3

Ericsson

Sauber

SUPERSOFT

01:21.824

DAY 3

Massa

Williams

SOFT

01:22.076

DAY 1

Grosjean

Haas

SUPERSOFT

01:22.118

DAY 3

Magnussen

Haas

SUPERSOFT

01:22.204

DAY 2

Stroll

Williams

SOFT

01:22.351

DAY 3

Giovinazzi

Sauber

ULTRASOFT

01:22.401

DAY 4

Ocon

Force India

SUPERSOFT

01:22.509

DAY 2

Perez

Force India

SUPERSOFT

01:22.534

DAY 4

Vandoorne

McLaren

ULTRASOFT

01:22.576

DAY 4

Alonso

McLaren

ULTRASOFT

01:22.598

DAY 3

Kvyat

Toro Rosso

SOFT

01:22.956

DAY 2

Sainz J

Toro Rosso

MEDIUM

01:23.540

DAY 3

Celis

Force India

ULTRASOFT

01:23.568

DAY 3