Verstappen not giving up on Pirelli: "It is the point of doing these tests"

Although the tyres for 2021 will remain broadly the same, Pirelli will come up with some adjustments to prevent tyre problems such as those we saw at Silverstone this year. However, not everyone is happy with the prototype that was tested today in Bahrain.

Hamilton called it a "regression" and saied he would prefer to keep the current set if this is the best Pirelli come up with. Also, Valtteri Bottas is not yet convinced by the new rubber. Mercedes seemed to be hit extra hard by this. At Red Bull Racing they were a bit more positive, but not entirely.

Verstappen and Albon await results

"We tried some of the 2021 tyres in both sessions but it is difficult to know which compounds we were running. We were a bit all over the place in terms of grip and balance but that is something Pirelli can look at and it is the point of doing these tests," said Max Verstappen in his review on Friday.

Alexander Albon also had a hard time finding grip, but is hopeful that this will improve. "We also sampled the prototype tires and swapped between different compounds but they didn't have a lot of grip so we'll see how they develop and hopefully they improve."