With the exception of Williams, all F1 teams participated in Pirelli's 18-inch wheel tyre development program last year.
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Pirelli has done a good job, according to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, in producing a tyre for F1’s 18-inch wheels that can be pushed harder while suffering less degradation. With the exception of Williams, all F1 teams participated in Pirelli’s 18-inch wheel tyre development program last year, but the product had yet to be tested on Grand Prix racing’s new ground effect designs. However, during the first three sessions of pre-season testing in Barcelona, there was remarkably little discussion about tyres and compounds, indicating a job well done by Pirelli.
“I did quite a bit of testing last year, I think I did three or four days in total with the compounds,” Sainz said. “And they look like they are suiting well this new generation of cars, and they look to be at least allowing you to push a bit more on them. And compared to other years, maybe a bit less overheating, a bit less deg.”
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“But there’s still deg, they’re still a tyre that degrades a tyre that overheats. But the scale of it for me personally, I feel like it’s a bit better. And the work done by Pirelli last year and the development seems to start to pay off a bit,” the Spaniard added.
Alpine driver Fernando Alonso singled out his former team Ferrari as the pacesetters after the conclusion of the Barcelona testing. Not in a long time has there been such excitement surrounding the start of a new Formula One season, owing largely to the fact that there are so many unknowns, with major rule changes resulting in new-look cars for the 2022 season. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was the first venue to showcase these new challengers, with the ten teams taking to the track for a three-day group shakedown.
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“Ferrari seems to be the fastest car, which is surely a surprise,” Alonso said as per Marca. “For Carlos [Sainz] it’s great news and for Spain in general.”
It is never a good idea to judge a team’s pace based on testing times, but there is no denying that Ferrari looked strong as they prioritised reliability over speed. Ferrari completed the most laps of any team over the three days, with 439, and their fastest lap time, courtesy of Charles Leclerc, was just over half a second slower than Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark, despite the fact that it was set on the C3 tyres, whereas Hamilton went all the way to the highest-grip C5 rubber. As a result of his observations, Alonso believes Ferrari is the fastest team in the world at the moment.
