Hamilton back in action as Ferrari and McLaren complete Pirelli F1 test

Lewis Hamilton was again on monitor with Ferrari for the Pirelli Method 1 tyre check that occurred this week at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Charles Leclerc quickest total.

As the brand new technical laws for 2026 make F1 automobiles smaller and lighter, the tyres can even be narrower – by 25mm on the entrance and 30mm on the rear – and have a barely smaller diameter, although wheel measurement will not be altering.

As a consequence, Pirelli has been testing prototypes forward of subsequent yr, with a two-day check accomplished with McLaren at Circuit Paul Ricard final week for moist and intermediate tyres, and additional two-day working was simply accomplished in Spain.

Ferrari drivers Hamilton and Leclerc shared an SF-24, whereas on Tuesday Lando Norris was driving the MCL60 from the 2023 season, with each automobiles that includes technical variations making them nearer to the 2026 technical necessities.

This was the first time the seven-time world champion was back on track after his crash on the same track last week, which was detrimental to Ferrari’s and Leclerc’s mileage.

“This time the programme centred round improvement of the slicks,” a press launch from Pirelli said. “Particularly being examined have been numerous combos of development and compound, the latter from the toughest finish of the vary, from the C1 to the C3, as they’re nicely suited to the Spanish monitor which is especially demanding on tyres.”

The three drivers accomplished no fewer than 332 laps total on Tuesday, with Norris racking up 159 laps whereas Leclerc and Hamilton coated 86 and 87 respectively. Norris was quickest, setting a 1m15.215s as his quickest lap time, adopted by Hamilton in 1m15.930s and Leclerc in 1m16.060s.

Oscar Piastri took over on the wheel of the McLaren automobile on Wednesday and accomplished 152 laps, whereas Leclerc and Hamilton managed 74 every. This amounted to 300 extra laps, that means Pirelli’s engineers now have a whopping 2,943km’s value of information to look into from the two-day check.

Leclerc was quickest total due to a 1m14.971s marker, with Piastri and Hamilton lapping in 1m15.815s and 1m16.759s respectively on Wednesday. The Pirelli press launch did level out that these lap instances “don’t have any actual significance given the totally different work programmes”.

“It was a really helpful session, significantly when it got here to offering a comparability between the assorted totally different constructions for subsequent season, in addition to experimenting with some compounds from the tougher finish of the vary,” Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola said following the two-day check.

“The Barcelona circuit is named one of the vital demanding for the tyres by way of the power exerted and degradation, subsequently the data now we have gathered over these two busy days will probably be crucial for the long run improvement of this technology of tyres.”

Pirelli’s 2026-spec tyre testing will resume on 13-14 February in Jerez with Alpine (two days), McLaren and Mercedes (sooner or later every). Bahrain will then host one other session on 2-3 March, simply after pre-season testing, with Alpine and Williams in attendance on each days.