Rain dampens final day of testing at Spa
After the Belgian Grand Prix, the Italian tire manufacturer organized two days of testing with Aston Martin and Alpine for the 2025 tires. After a sunny first day, rain appeared on the second, disrupting both teams' test programs.
The Spa-Francorchamps circuit remains true to its reputation in terms of weather conditions. Already unpredictable last weekend during the Formula 1 Grand Prix, with rain on Saturday and dry weather on Sunday, the weather once again changed during the two testing days scheduled by Pirelli on the Ardennes track.
A very hot day this Tuesday
On Tuesday, Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Ocon had been chosen by their respective teams to complete some laps in order to compare the different hard tires from Pirelli, which were favored that day due to the specificity of the track, very technical, hilly and demanding a lot from the tires, but also because of the weather, with temperatures around 50 °C on the ground.
In the end, the Belgian driver completed 92 laps in his AMR24, which he was discovering for the first time this season, while the French driver, on his part, completed 97 laps in his A524 and recorded a time of 1’45.445, just over a tenth ahead of the former McLaren driver’s best time.
A second day disrupted by the rain
As the weather forecast announced a day just as sunny as the day before, giving the two teams present on the track the opportunity to carry out more tests with slick tires, on the track, the weather conditions were quite different. From 8 a.m., the sky began to cloud over at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit before the rain fell 2 hours later, thus limiting the driving time and altering the tests of Aston Martin and Alpine.
In the end, only the Belgian driver drove in wet conditions, completing a total of 71 laps, mainly with intermediate tires and full wet tires for a best time of 1’48.342 set early in the morning when the track was still dry. On the Alpine side, very little information could be collected during this day, as Australian Jack Doohan only drove in the morning and completed only 15 laps in his Alpine for a time of 1’45.569, just a tenth behind Esteban Ocon, the driver he will replace next year within the Enstone team.
A next test session is planned by Pirelli in order to analyze the 2025 tires and understand their behavior. It will take place the week following the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Three teams will be present that day: Red Bull Racing, RB F1 (Racing Bulls), and Mercedes to help Pirelli optimize its future tire compounds as best as possible.
