Pirelli concludes successful wet night test

Pirelli has completed a successful wet weather test in Abu Dhabi, with Pedro de la Rosa driving the Toyota TF109 under floodlights and becoming the first man to drive an F1 car in the wet at night.

The Spaniard used the 3.1kms ‘North Loop’ configuration of the track, which was soaked with 140,000 litres of water. He ran on two evenings from 6pm to midnight, the lack of sun ensuring that the track stayed wet for longer. The first day was focussed on full wets, and the second on intermediates.

On the previous two days he ran some 1400kms on all four types of dry tyres.

De la Rosa said: “In my opinion, Pirelli is ready now for Formula One. The dry tyre test went very well, and confirmed everything we had learned in Bahrain the week before. But the most original part of the test was when we were running at night on the wet tyres, which was as new an experience for me as it was for everyone else.

“The most important thing was that the water levels were consistent, which allowed us to have some accurate results from the test. At the end of it, we’ve come up with two tyres – wet and intermediate – which I believe are both competitive and stable.”

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “It’s been an extremely positive test session here in Abu Dhabi, thanks to the fantastic facilities we’ve had available to us and the usual hard work from Pedro and the rest of our team. We’re very proud to have been part of creating a little bit of history by running a Formula One car at night for the first time on wet tyres –  we very much believe that Pirelli will be able to contribute to the spectacle of Formula One in the future, and seeing the car kicking up huge plumes of spray under the floodlights has certainly been an amazing sight that we will all remember for a long time.

“While we are well aware that we are new to Formula One and still have plenty to learn, I’m confident that we can approach the start of this year’s official testing next month with a strong package.”