Whoa, let me take you on a wild ride through the tire testing world — honestly, who knew this could be interesting? So, there’s Pirelli, right? They’re the big shots of rubber in F1, or something like that. This 2025 scene’s still revving up, but they’re already eyeing 2026. Why? Dunno, maybe they’re just overachievers or trying to show off.
So just after the British Grand Prix, guess what? Pirelli didn’t pack up and leave like everyone else. Nope, they hung around Silverstone for a two-day tire fiesta. Aston Martin and Sauber were the teams kind enough — or maybe just roped in — to help. They had their cars ready, testing out these mysterious 2026 tires. Pirelli was all about trying different versions of the harder compounds, like C1, C2, and C3. Sounds like a secret code, huh?
In the morning, the drivers zipped around doing short runs — like, whoosh, whoosh. Trying to see how these compounds perform. Afternoon rolls in, and hey, they’re now doing longer runs. Testing endurance, I guess? The way they talked about it, you’d think they were baking a cake and just trying to get the right mix.
Lance Stroll — you know him, right? — was in a souped-up Aston Martin AMR25. This was no regular car, apparently. He zoomed around for 126 laps. That’s like, if I were counting (and I kind of did), a lot of circles. He got his best time down to 1m30.195s. Fast? You bet!
Next day, we’ve got Gabriel Bortoleto in a Sauber C45 altered to fit those 2026 beauties. He managed 110 laps with a top time of 1m33.188s. That’s, uh, less speedy than Lance, but hey, who’s judging?
Bortoleto seemed pretty stoked about the whole shebang. Thanked everyone like he won an award or something. Said the days were super productive and he loved getting familiar with the tires. Apparently, these new ones let him handle corners like a pro. Not that I’d know how that feels — turns still scare me on a bike.
So, that’s the scoop. Tires, laps, and a whole lot of high-speed action. Makes you wonder about all the detail going into these rubber donuts, right?
