Two-day tire test carried out at Monza

British driver Ben Hanley was on hand to undertake a two-day GP2 tire test at Monza last week, completing 180 laps of the Italian venue to aid future simulator developments. The 26-year-old, who took part in four rounds of the 2008 season, was joined on-track by Pirelli’s Lucas di Grassi, with the latter completing further F1 tire evaluations.

"We scanned different F1 and GP2 2011 tires in various setup configurations such as warm up laps, starting procedures, qualifications and long runs," said GP2 Series Technical Director Didier Perrin. "Our objectives last week were not to test new compounds, but to help improve Pirelli’s development tools on the medium and long terms.

"The data we collected will be used when testing in a simulator. Nowadays, sophisticated simulators such as the one Dallara has designed and built have become extremely accurate in predicting what will happen on track. This is why it can be used for both car and tire developments."

"It’s always such a pleasure to be back at the wheel of a GP2 car," Hanley added. "It’s a great opportunity to be testing and developing Pirelli tires alongside a Formula 1 car which was driven by Lucas di Grassi whom I know very well.

"We tested the same type of compounds for the two days and it was great to be able to run pretty close to him in the several long runs we did. No other car can come this close to an F1 car in terms of power, performance, characteristics and tire management. It was an intense and fruitful session."