As you all know by now, Pirelli have “stolen” German grand prix racer Nick Heidfeld from Mercedes GP, offering him a job as official tester of the Italian marque. Heidfeld was released of his contract by the German manufacturer and was therefore able to complete the first miles on a car fitted with Pirelli tires, using Toyota's 2009 challenger, the TF109.
The test took place at Mugello and included runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the initial data on tire behavior seem to suggest Pirelli are on target with the development of their tires. This is exactly what Paul Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director, said after the first running concluded by Heidfeld.
“This was the first step of our return to Formula 1 and we are very satisfied with how the tires performed and the information we were able to collect,” said Hembery, according to Autosport.
“We concentrated on finalising the profile and the construction of the front and rear tires, which is a process that we will continue over the next few tests that we carry out.”
“Mugello has quite an abrasive surface with long and medium/high-speed corners as well as hairpins and quick changes of direction so it is quite a good proving ground. We are on target and we come away from this test with lots of data to analyse, which is exactly the situation we hoped to be in,” concluded the Pirelli boss.
Nick Heidfeld is to resume action in the Toyota TF109 in the weeks to come, as at least three further tests have already been scheduled by Pirelli for the upcoming few weeks. The tracks chosen by the Italian tire manufacturer to test their compounds more accurately are Jerez, Monza and Paul Ricard.
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