Pirelli conducts rain-affected F1 2026 tyre test in Mugello

Pirelli Motorsport had its Mugello test of F1 2026 slick tyres hampered by rain, but it used parts of it by running inter/wet compounds.

Day 1 –

First day of testing this week for Pirelli at the Mugello circuit, working in conjunction with Haas and Scuderia Ferrari. The programme focused on defining the hardest compounds from the 2026 range. Today, the American team’s two race drivers, Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman were on track, at the wheel of a mule car based on the VF-24, adapted to accommodate the 2026 tyres. The Frenchman completed 40 laps, the quickest in 1’21”943.

Very changeable weather made life difficult for the engineers, with rain hitting the track in the late morning. However, this presented an opportunity to try some 2026 intermediate tyre solutions on the very probing Mugello circuit. On these tyres, Bearman completed 30 laps, with a best time of 1’34”381. Testing continues tomorrow at Mugello when Guanyu Zhou and Charles Leclerc will be behind the wheel for Scuderia Ferrari, each driving part of the day in a mule car based on the SF-25.

Day 2 –

It’s properly autumn at the Mugello circuit in Italy, where Pirelli has just completed two days of development testing of the 2026 tyres. As was the case yesterday, rain hampered the efforts of the Pirelli engineers, today working in conjunction with Scuderia Ferrari. Charles Leclerc was first out on track for the Maranello team, followed by Guanyu Zhou. The day’s programme focused on a comparison of the harder compounds in the range, but intermittent rain, at times quite heavy, significantly reduced the running time on slick tyres.

As a back-up plan, several runs were completed on intermediate tyres as well as on extreme wets. In the morning, Leclerc was only able to do 25 laps, all on intermediates, the quickest in a time of 1’34”914. In the afternoon, Zhou ran on intermediates and extreme wets, before managing to fit in a handful of runs on slicks. The Chinese driver completed 75 laps, the best in 1’22”012.

“Unfortunately, the weather didn’t help,” commented Mario Isola, Pirelli Director of Motorsport. “That’s a shame, as Mugello is not just a wonderful circuit, but also very demanding on tyres and it would have been useful to get in some consistent running to define the hardest compounds. Now we will have to finish the work of analysing the little data we collected over these two days and cross-reference it with that from previous sessions, in order to reach the necessary conclusions.

“As for the softer compounds, we still have two more days of testing after the Mexico City Grand Prix to finalise their homologation. If we want to look for positives, at least we were able to test the wet weather tyres on a real track, gathering data and insights which will be useful for medium to long term development. Finally, I’d like to thank Haas and Scuderia Ferrari for their cooperation over these past two days.”