Mario Isola: Review of the Pirelli 18 inch tyre test

Sergey Sirotkin has been testing the new 2021 18 inch tyres for Pirelli and Mario Isola is very pleased with how the test went. The two-day test saw Sirotkin drive 213 laps and Isola believes that this has been very valuable for the future of the Pirelli rubber. 

“We were delighted to open up a brand new chapter at Paul Ricard, with the debut for our 18-inch tyres – which will change the face of Formula 1 – taking place alongside our latest development test for next year’s 13-inch tyres," Isola said to Pirelli. "Renault provided a 2018 mule car for the 18-inch test, with Sergey Sirotkin driving to mark this historic moment.

"We completed our planned programme as expected, covering 213 laps with the 18-inch tyres over two days. This was very useful for us to take a first look at the new generation of tyres and start shaping the development path that we will follow for the remainder of this year and next year.

"Of course, it is hard to read too much into this test as these are still very early days, but we have accumulated all the preliminary data that we wanted in good weather conditions, so thank you very much to Renault and to Sergey for their availability.

"With the 13-inch 2020 tyres, we covered 212 laps over the two days thanks to Esteban Ocon and Mercedes. The work consisted of assessing a range of prototype slick tyres, as we begin to finalise next year’s specification: the last season of 13-inch tyres before we move on to 18 inches in 2021.”

It will be interesting to see if drivers like the use of the bigger rims and the introduction of them will be one of many changes for the 2021 season.