The Force India F1 Team rounded off its 2010 racing year – its most successful season in F1 to date – by welcoming a new partner to the fold. For the first time the team got experience of running with Pirelli tires, which will be supplied to all teams in the FIA Formula One World Championship from 2011 onwards. One day after the conclusion of the young driver test, Force India was back at the Yas Marina Circuit for the two day test, with Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta sharing driving duties on day one and Paul and Tonio Liuzzi participating in day two.
The trio completed tests designed to gather as much information as possible on weight distribution, aero settings and general balance to feed back into the development programme of the 2011 challenger, the VJM04, which continues apace back at the team’s HQ in Silverstone, UK. The team also ran extensive tests with the two types of compounds available at this test, the soft and medium tire.
“We have been looking forward to this Pirelli tire test since we received the first real information about the tyres from them in early September,” said Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer. “Over these two days we’ve covered more than two race distances and have been impressed with Pirelli’s tires.
“We’ve allowed all three of our drivers to make an overall assessment in comparison to this year’s baseline, and then we’ve carried out further parameterised testing with the two compounds available. In addition we have run with a great many additional sensors and data acquisition systems to collect as much information as possible from the tires on track. Having used eight sets, four option and four prime, we feel we’ve built a reasonable early picture of the tires at a circuit which, although changing in condition, has proven productive for testing.
The next steps are for us to incorporate what we have learned into the development of VJM04, and for Pirelli’s engineers to analyze the data they have collected as they determine the tire specifications that will be available to us when we are next testing in February 2011.
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