Pirelli cancels Bahrain tyre test as US-Iran conflict develops

The Italian tyre manufacturer was meant to conduct a wet tyre test at the Bahrain International Circuit with Mercedes and McLaren, but those plans are now cancelled.

That comes after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and retaliations from Iran landed in Bahrain as well. The country's airspace was closed this Saturday.

Pirelli shared in a statement: "The two days of development testing for the wet compounds scheduled for today and tomorrow at the Bahrain circuit have been cancelled for safety reasons, following the evolving international situation.

GPblog has learned that Frederik Vesti was meant to drive for Mercedes. The team's employees are also safe, and they are working on getting them home or directly to Melbourne, this website understands. McLaren's test driver in Bahrain was meant to be Nyck de Vries.