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| Gary Paffett, McLaren (Photo: WRI2) |
"The tires seem to be working well and not too different from Bridgestone, so a good start," said Gary Paffett, who has tested the 2010 McLaren with both Pirelli and Bridgestone tires this week.
“We tried two different types and acquired a lot of data which will be useful for the Italian company to develop the tires still further for the start of the 2011 season. On the hards, there were some difficulties over a long run while the softs worked well both on the very first lap and also after they had done a larger number of laps,” Massa explained.
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| Rubens Barrichello, Williams (Photo: WRI2) |
“Our initial impression of the tires has been positive: they were working well with good grip and no warm-up issues,” declared Alan Permane, Chief Engineer at Renault.
“Track conditions are now very different to those over the race weekend, partly because of the two days of running during the young driver test,” indicated Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer at Toro Rosso.
The tests will resume tomorrow, Saturday.
Day 1 of Pirelli tire test*, Yas Marina circuit, Abu Dhabi
1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m40.170s 94 laps
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m40.500s 77
3. Gary Paffett McLaren 1m40.874s 94
4. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m40.950s 83
5. Robert Kubica Renault 1m41.032s 39
6. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1m41.425s 91
7. Paul di Resta Force India 1m41.615s 20
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m41.778s 81
9. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m42.019s 71
10. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m42.859s 20
11. Timo Glock Virgin 1m44.124s 78
12. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1m44.686s 88
13. Pastor Maldonado Hispania 1m45.728s 83
*Unofficial timing