Russell at Work
The second and final day of Pirelli’s wet weather tire tests at Silverstone for 2026 development took place today. As with yesterday, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team provided their support for the test, using a mule-car derived from the 2024 W15, which was driven by George Russell.
Today’s program focused on comparing different prototypes of extreme wet and intermediate tires. As happened yesterday, the test was held on the National layout of the English circuit, which is 2.630 kilometers long and had been artificially wetted with water trucks for the occasion.
George Russell completed a total of 80 laps, with the fastest time being 46″190, bringing the total distance covered over the two days to 481 kilometers.
Mario Isola’s Comments
“First, I would like to thank Mercedes and their drivers for their cooperation. Returning to the track immediately after a Grand Prix across the Atlantic is a significant commitment, and we greatly appreciated it,” said Mario Isola, Director of Pirelli Motorsport. “This has been a very useful test session because it allowed us to gather interesting data on wet weather tires, following the information obtained at Paul Ricard last January. Regarding the intermediate tires, we confirmed that the direction taken with on-track development aligns with our expectations. However, the feedback on the wet tires is still preliminary and will need to be carefully analyzed over the coming days to continue the work in the best possible way to improve the product for next season.”
Upcoming Tests in June in Spain and Fiorano
The next testing session for 2026, focusing on slick tires, is scheduled for June 3 and 4 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Mercedes will once again take part, alongside Racing Bulls. The wet tire tests are set for June 19 and 20, when Ferrari will exclusively work on their private Fiorano circuit, which is equipped with an artificial asphalt irrigation system.
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