Pilots’ reactions to the new 18-inch tires

After an Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that saw Max Verstappen crowned world champion, the drivers returned to the track for post-season testing. They were accompanied by young drivers who were testing the 2021 cars, while the F1 drivers were testing the 18-inch tires behind the wheel of cars called mules.

These mules are actually the 2019 cars adapted for 18-inch tires. These famous tires were quite appreciated by the drivers.

« It is obviously always a pleasant experience behind the wheel of a world championship car, the Mercedes 2019, and with these 18-inch Pirelli tires, which seemed to react quite positively, so yes, it was a beautiful day. », recounts George Russell.

« It was a really interesting day, the new tires are quite different from the current tires in terms of behavior and I was pleasantly surprised by them. I know it’s only the beginning, but the temperature generation inside has been one of the things we’ve worked on and they seem to be more robust in terms of surface overheating. It was nice to be there today and for now I have a good feeling about these tires. », explains Sergio Perez.

18-inch tires that pleasantly surprise drivers, but also allow them to turn towards the 2022 season and train for it like the recent world champion, Max Verstappen.

“It was nice to be back behind the wheel and it was good to get a feel for the new tires. Everything went well and there were no major issues with the tires, which is always positive. Everything will change next year and the cars will be very different, so it’s good to have the first information about the tires,” Verstappen said.

“It is useful to continue to understand the new tire size, which is bigger than the ones we were using at the end of this season. The wheels are very large and the feeling through the wheel is quite different. The team has acquired a lot of data, which will be useful in preparing the 2022 car,” said Charles Leclerc.

Precious data regarding these 18-inch tires, but also a feeling of duty to adapt one’s driving with these new tires as explained by Leclerc’s teammate, Carlos Sainz.

Being able to test these 18-inch tires a lot was very interesting. There are obvious differences, but I would say that, overall, they are going in the right direction. Based on what I could feel today, I think it will require a change in certain aspects of his driving style,” explains Sainz.

These tests have therefore allowed to better prepare for the 2022 season, trying in particular to address the questions that teams may have about these new tires, as explained by the drivers at McLaren.

« Today was another productive day of testing. It was really great to get a feel for the new tires and better understand how they work. We gathered a lot of useful information over the past two days, and these data will help us work on things during the winter break and hopefully answer a few questions we had. », said Landos Norris.

“It was a good day of testing to wrap up the 2021 season. Getting track time on the 2022 tires was really helpful,” recounts Daniel Ricciardo.